by Viola Grace
Silver jumped to his feet and inclined his head. “Commander Rikkat. Welcome to the base.”
“You were with me on the transport, Silver.” She cocked her head at his diffident manner.
Quell coughed. “We are attempting a new start. You have something in your past that will need to be dealt with at some point. Until that moment, you both need to begin again.”
Understanding dawned. “Pleased to meet you, Silver. I will endeavour to stay out of the way until I can be useful.”
Quell asked hopefully, “Can you cook?”
Silver winced.
Tazzy grinned. “Not particularly, but I do attempt it with enthusiasm.”
“I would enjoy trying your efforts.” Quell was trying to be polite, but there was fear in his gaze.
Silver closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.
Flick looked cheerful, and it was his attitude that decided her. She was going to bake cookies.
“Well, since I am not on official duty for a few days, I am going to try to bake some sweets.”
Flick perked up. “Sweets?”
Quell snickered. “He has a fast metabolism. His meals are our greatest expense.”
She opened the tight closure of her uniform sleeves and folded them back. “Let’s see if I can remember how to do this.”
With three men staring at her with trepidation, she entered the kitchen. Chaos was about to commence.
Chapter Five
“It is more of what I would call a granola bar, but I think it turned out pretty well.” Tazzy sat with her feet up and a cup of caf in one hand, a cookie bar in the other.
Flick was eating them by the dozen. “I don’t care if you can’t make anything else. Make these and I will be your servant.”
The other two laughed, but they were consuming their own share. Leftovers were not something that was going to be an issue at this Guardian base.
Silver had removed his mask after Quell had announced that Tazzy could be trusted with their identities. She looked at the familiar face of Arkenor, and her heart flipped every time he met her gaze.
When the light dimmed and her body told her it was time to sleep, she got to her feet, excused herself and headed for her quarters.
Three hours later, she slipped on one of her long, loose crystalline robes and headed for the observatory with a book tucked under one arm and her hair tumbling loose around her shoulders.
She settled in a chair under the dome of stars and read her book for an hour before fatigue ran through her body. When she stood, Silver was standing in the doorway, watching her.
“You haven’t changed that much.” He stepped toward her slowly.
“No, only in all the ways that count.” Tazzy shifted to one side with her book under her arm.
“What happened to you?”
“You have clearance now, you tell me.”
“I want you to tell me.” He reached out and caressed a few locks of hair. “This is new.”
“After the incident, a lot of my hair bleached out where the fragments hit. I decided that I wanted them to be memorialized in colour.”
“And your eyes?”
“They changed composition in the chemical flash.”
“I like them; they are jade pools into your soul.”
She twisted her lips in a grimace. “You couldn’t see it before?”
“I am trying to flirt a little.” He stepped closer to her.
“Yeah, that doesn’t really do much for me anymore.”
She reached out and stroked two fingers across his jawline. She leaned in and whispered, “Kneel.”
He dropped to his knees with an expression of confusion on his face. “What is happening?”
“Things have changed, Arkenor. I am no longer the woman you knew. You had better get used to it.” She moved past him and through the doorway. Her hold would wear off in a few minutes, possibly less if he had a fast metabolism.
She padded back through the facility and returned to her quarters. She pulled a pillow in and held it while she sobbed for the moment missed and the cruelty of fate to bring her back to him when she was no longer an option as a lover. Her body was scarred, her mind was set and her biology was off the charts. No one would have her now.
* * * *
“Are you satisfied?”
Arkenor was regaining use of his body. The time trapped by Rikkat had been good for him. He had seen her pain in that flash when she froze him to his knees.
“I am aware of her abilities. She is more than she was.”
Quell squatted near him. “Will you be able to work with her?”
“Easily.”
“She has requested a transfer.”
The panic that rushed through him sent Arkenor to his feet. “What?”
“She doesn’t want to work with you. She believes it will be difficult.” Quell patted him on the back.
“What happened, precisely? She will not give me details.”
Quell sat him down and leaned forward, explaining about the setup, the explosion and the damage. Rikkat’s partner had been blown to bits, she had suffered extensive damage and exposure to chemicals that should not have bonded to her system, but they had. Ten months ago, she had been blown to hell, and two days later, she had come back.
“They don’t know how she survived, but she did. Her body rewired its neural and chemical signature into something new. She should not even be able to stand, but she does.”
It fit with the damage that Arkenor had seen. The gouges of torn flesh were across her nerve bundles, her spine should have been severed in a multitude of places, but she was up and glaring at all around her. “What about her chemical signature?”
“She can enthrall anything she touches or that touches her. On a place like Decolian 12, that means any male who meets her at a formal function can be under her spell. You would not believe the active uniforms that they have prepared for her. Contact with bare skin will not be an issue.”
He knew enough of her modesty to shake his head. “She won’t like that.”
“I am aware, but it is her new uniform as Halt that will be her representation of the imperium. It will certainly be eye catching.”
Quell tilted his head. “How are you feeling?”
“Excellent. No ill effects except mild arousal. You knew she would do this to me?” He took in a full body assessment. He actually felt good, almost as if he had just woken from a deep and restful sleep.
“I suspected. She is trying to make an impression on you. Did she succeed?”
“She did. It does not change how I feel though. I wanted her then, I want her now.”
“And her opinion on the matter?”
“Her species does not value damage on a female. I am going to have my work cut out for me now that we are on the same footing.”
“You outrank her now, you are aware of that.”
“I am, but I am hoping she is not. She was always one for duty and propriety above all else. If it wasn’t for my damned brother, I would have had time to ease her into the idea of renewing our acquaintance.” Arkenor flicked his hair over his shoulder.
“How did you know she was an imperial peacekeeper looking for a posting?”
“I didn’t. I wanted her here by whatever means I was able. Even that treatise with my family.”
Quell ran his hand over his scaled scalp. “I still can’t believe you made that deal.”
“And I can’t believe that Guardian control went for it.”
It had been an act of desperation the moment that he had been assigned to the Guardian program. He had sworn his life to Decolian 12, and his service to the Guardians for two decades if they could bring Commander Rikkat to him with no one the wiser. It had taken them a while, but when they had finally begun to move, it happened a day too late for Rikkat. One investigation into a drug ring and she had disappeared from the roster, but the Guardians had insisted that their end of the deal was still in action.
He ha
d asked the royal family to intervene, and once it was understood that his interest went far beyond the casual, they had placed a request for Commander Rikkat the moment she was cleared for duty. That the peacekeepers had agreed had given him hope. Whatever happened to her had not destroyed her. He could never have lived with himself if she had died and he had not been there to save her.
His own transformation had come as the result of a transfusion not properly checked. While Genarans were a close match to Decolians, they were not exact and the result had taken some time to master. He had worked hard day and night with special training sessions on Yacaro but eventually came to grips with the liquid silver nanites under his control.
“She is here now; she isn’t going anywhere. You have time to win her over again.” Quell patted him on the shoulder.
“If I can earn her as a partner, I will be content with whatever she will offer.” He could feel the sincerity in his own tone, and his body vibrated with it.
Anastasia Rikkat had been the best thing that had ever happened to him, a woman who met the worlds on her own terms and changed them for the better. He had changed, she had changed, but he hoped that the people they had been could still meet across the gulf of experience. Learning her again was his fondest wish, and if she were willing, he would give her the time she needed.
If she weren’t willing, he was going to make sure that her life was as pleasant as he could arrange. Seeing her happy was close enough to being part of that happiness.
If he kept repeating that sentiment to himself, he might one day believe it.
Chapter Six
Tazzy got up when she heard the alarm. She stepped into her uniform and was out of her quarters in under two minutes.
The Guardians were on their way to the transport. They nodded as they passed, but their attention was obviously on whatever was being given to them via their coms.
The transport took off and left her alone without anyone explaining what the hell was going on. It was time to investigate her new home, and there was nothing like all the men gone for a lady to find out about her territory.
Smiling, she returned to her rooms and tugged on her gloves. She only used them when she was attempting to hide her presence. Her chemical signature was distinctive and worse when she made contact with something.
Whistling absently, she took an inventory of the kitchen, checked the gardens and observed the temperature and filtering system of the pool. She would be able to swim as long as the others waited a solid twenty minutes after she took a dip.
The main com system was alive with chatter. She slipped a spare set into her ear and listened to her first Guardian assignment with the tip of one glove between her teeth to keep her from butting in.
“Silver, their ship is dropping.”
“Got it, Quell. Will you take care of the crew?”
“Of course. Just get them down safely.”
“Done.”
Flick piped up, “Watch your back, Silver. That ship is unstable.”
“Acknowledged.”
Tazzy hunted around and flicked up the visual display. She watched the wave of liquid silver as it held and supported the crashing ship. She could see Silver’s outstretched hand and the puddle of his talent as it brought the ship down on a green meadow.
She watched Quell’s back as he left the transport and stepped in front of it. The crew of the downed vessel stumbled free, and Quell had them dropping to the meadow in seconds.
Flick sprinted through the downfall, and he whisked around, depositing and cataloguing weapons.
They were an efficient team.
Tazzy sat back and watched them tidy up, wondering what she could add to their unit.
They returned to the base four hours later. Flick dove into the new batch of cookies and the other two headed for their offices to file reports.
“You don’t have to file reports?”
Flick smiled and shook his head. “I am not the most linear of folk. My reports are barely legible and never comprehensive. They allow me to simply use the recording feed you saw today.”
She blushed. “You could see that?”
“Of course. Anyone looking at the feed causes a signal on the transport control.”
“Oh.”
Flick chuckled. “These are even better than yesterday.”
“The recipe is the same, you are just hungrier.”
“Probably. So, were you impressed?”
“I was. You work very well as a team. I have no idea what I can possibly bring to the assembly.” She smiled.
Quell came into the kitchen and rescued one of the last cookies. “We lack people skills.”
Silver entered a moment later. “Are there any left?”
She snorted, opened a cupboard and pulled out a covered tray with another batch on it.
“My hero.” Silver smiled and winked at her, his blue eye bright behind the dark pewter mask.
Flick grinned with chunks of cookies in his teeth and his cheeks puffed full. He grabbed another handful and headed for the common lounge.
Quell laughed. “He is yours for life if you want him. You need only keep a supply of these confections coming.”
“I think that baking is better left as a pleasure and not as an obligation. What were you saying about people skills?”
Quell sat at the kitchen counter and Silver sat next to him. Bots brought them caf and they settled in.
Quell inclined his head. “We can act physically, I can knock folks out or calm them, but I have no ability to coax information out of them. We believe that you can do that coaxing with your particular chemistry.”
She blinked. “I thought I was here as a liaison.”
“Oh, you are, but you are also now an adjunct to a Guardian team. We have the right to make use of all your talents in the line of duty.”
Tazzy sighed. “Fair enough.”
“You have been provided with a Guardian uniform. I believe it will suit you.”
She blinked. “A uniform? I have my peacekeeper uniform.”
“Nevertheless, you will dress as a Guardian while on duty.” Quell nodded.
It was hard to take a lizard eating cookies with both hands seriously, but he managed to project gravitas.
Silver winked again and kept eating. “The bots will have dinner ready in two hours if you want to swim. I do recall that you enjoyed swimming.”
She smiled. “I think I will. Well done today. Was it an invading ship?”
Quell shook his head. “Just some drunk nobles on an island crawl with a few too many drinks and far too much needed maintenance.”
“Does that happen a lot?”
Silver shrugged. “Decolian 12 is rather idyllic. We keep Guardians on hand for the moments that are not usual.”
Tazzy nodded. “Fair enough. Do I still have two more days?”
Quell inclined his head. “You do. Get comfortable and the bots will bring out your uniform for when you return from your swim.”
The way he said it made her suspicious, but she really wanted to take that dip. First things first. She headed for the pool.
Her clothing hit the floor, and she dove into the blue-green water a moment later. Swimming was a luxury that she could no longer afford as few places could afford the filtering system needed to clear her influence out of the water.
The cool water wrapped around her, the closest thing to contact from another living soul that she had enjoyed in nearly a year.
She did a forward stroke, flipped and returned. She didn’t know if she had spent minutes or hours in the water, but when she finally hauled herself out, she was exhausted and grinning like a fool.
“You still like to swim.” Silver was sitting with his mask pushed back to hang from the back of his neck.
“You still like to be here when I come out. I apologize for the view.” Tazzy got to her feet and wrapped herself in a towel.
“There is nothing wrong with the view, Rikkat. You are lovelier than ever.”
<
br /> She turned her face away from his bright gaze. “I am a disaster.”
“You are alive. There is nothing more I would ask for.” He got out of his chair and came up to her.
He grabbed her arms and held her, though she knew his instinct was telling him to let go and remain passive. “I am with you once again, Commander. There is no where I would wish either of us to be right now.”
Arkenor had been making the occasional overture toward her, but she had held back because of the rank issue. Now, it seemed that her rank was taken along with her job and her purpose.
Tazzy watched him come in and lifted her head slightly to meet his lips with her own. She relaxed the control that she could wield over him and let him weave a spell over her instead.
Wrapped in her towel, she shivered as he stroked her shoulders and arms. Their kiss deepened, and she tasted him for the second time in her life. The first time had been when she packed him on the medical transport, and a day later, he had been reported as dead.
She pulled back with a jerk. “Stop.”
He froze, his hands still clutching her arms.
“Why did you stop me? Things were going so well.”
She blinked and tears filled her lashes. “They were. They can’t. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but tonight, I sleep alone.”
“We have dinner first.” His hands began to move on her.
She looked down, and there was a silvery trace on her skin. “What are you doing?”
“Producing antibodies to your commands. A few more minutes of contact and I will be immune to you.”
She stumbled out of his grip. “You can do that?”
“I was changed as well. You were not the only one. I received a transfusion from a soldier of Genaran extraction, and I suffered a complication. While we appeared to be a match on paper, they did not account for the nanites that would race through my system and make themselves at home.”
“Genarans? I have heard of them.”
“Of course you have. They are also responsible for your Guardian uniform. It will expose a lot of your skin, but I believe it will make an impression. You always looked good in almost nothing, and your new abilities will be more easily accessed if your limbs are exposed.”