by J. A. Clarke
"Yes, ma'am." No change of expression. No movement. They were the quintessential Mariltar warriors: unyielding, steadfast, resolute in following orders.
The sun beat down on her, making her head swim with a sudden brief attack of dizziness. The only way she was going to get rid of Alerik's spies was to go to the source. And wasn't that going to be fun?
"All right. I'm going to finish my run now. And then I'm going to go back to Janas Corporation and have a conversation with Governor Mariltar."
She waved at the rippling gel sea on one side and the thick jungle-like vegetation steps away at the edge of the beach. Its primitive beauty hid deadly thorns, whip vines that could maim and poisonous secretions. Paradise came with a price. No one in his right mind would conceal himself in the dense growth without consequence. "As you can see, no threats lurking around here. Feel free to disappear any time."
Neither one budged, of course.
She heaved an exaggerated sigh and shook her head, and then wished she hadn't, as a curtain of blackness briefly descended. She had to get out of the sun. She started off at a slow jog, trailed by two of the most highly trained warriors in the Crestar System.
Chapter 3
Margaine Confluence/Fourth Rising
Pallas Five
The day was three-quarters gone and Grogon's most unique phenomenon, its small moon-sun, was on its fourth rising, when the vid console at the workstation in the governor's office buzzed with an alert of an incoming message.
"Do you want to respond to that?" Sharm said.
Alerik could see the caller's ID code. A twinge of anticipation shot through his belly straight to his groin. "No." He turned back to the two men seated before him. "It's not important. Continue."
Captain Rectar Stilling said, "Well, sir, we have the lower route into the Pallas Seven docks covered. Just in three cycles we've seen a marked drop in traffic. The upper route is more difficult but--"
The buzzer on the console went crazy and began to flash. Sharm raised his brows at Alerik. He shrugged. The blasted technology should have recorded a message by now. "Do you need more manpower?" he asked Stilling.
"Don't believe so, sir. The--"
Alerik's personal comm began to vibrate. Simultaneously, the room's amplifier system began to buzz and flash. He sprang to his feet. "Balls of Sortor! How did she do that?"
Sharm and Stilling were also on their feet.
"Who?" demanded Sharm.
"Maegan Shale," Alerik said grimly. He strode to the vid console and punched the release to shut down the comm system. Nothing happened.
"Maegan Shale? The Chief Executive of Janas Corporation? Radically advanced communication interface technology?" Sharm sounded far too amused.
"What the sliek does that mean? And how by Sagar's Crystals do you know that?" Alerik punched futilely at the release again. He didn't have a clue what Janas did. Communication interface technology?
"Did some research."
"This is an invasion of privacy!" Alerik slammed his hand down on the console.
Sharm picked up his vid screen. "Looks like you have a bit of a crisis to deal with. I'll finish debriefing Captain Stilling in my office." Behind Stilling's back on the way to the door, he dared to waggle his brows at Alerik and flash three fingers at him.
In his office, with three different comm sources buzzing and flashing around him, Alerik waited a full nan, allowing the anticipation to build. Then he switched the vid comm to receive, eliminating all noise and flash instantly. "Counselor Shale."
"Governor Mariltar. I see you are available after all."
What the sliek was she wearing? Something pale green that looked like it had been painted on her. Combined with the crown of her tightly knotted blonde hair, she looked...lickable. Great Sagar! He was glad the console shielded him.
"You and I need to have a conversation, Maegan, about polite communication. I'm in the middle of a meeting. What do you want?"
She broke eye contact and turned away slightly. The green suit lovingly embraced the sweep of her back to the fan of her ass. She was too thin, but it was nothing a few good meals couldn't fix. "Call off your spies, Governor."
"Spies? I prefer to call them bodyguards. They're there for your protection."
"I don't need protection and I don't appreciate being spied on." She seemed to be out of breath. Her face was flushed. Her breasts heaved under the thin skin of her clothing. He could see the tight bump of the nipple in profile to him. His groin twitched again.
"We disagree. Until the situation on Pallas Seven is under control, every counselor is being assigned temporary protection unless they already have a bodyguard."
"Which I do."
"No. You don't. Janas Corporation only provides security within its premises."
"I'll extend it to outside."
"Sorry, not acceptable. I'll expect your cooperation. Do let Corenna and Drakal know of any plans outside of work and home."
Every muscle in her face was rigid. Her eyes were narrowed into slits. The flush had faded to a paleness that alarmed him. "This is an outrageous invasion of privacy. I will not accept it."
Time to tighten the clamps. "You don't have to accept it. You just have to follow orders, which I realize is hard for you to do. But, Maegan, know this. I will not tolerate noncompliance."
Her eyes widened and flashed green fire. Her nostrils flared.
"And on the subject of invasion of privacy, don't ever use today's tactic to communicate with me again or I'll paralyze Janas Corporation with a comprehensive inspection in addition to the financial audit. Speaking of which, you are ready to turn over your records, aren't you?"
Her body swayed. She reached out to clench her hands around the edge of the console. "You arrogant batriel! I came here to get away from--"
"You're not well," he said sharply as her sleek blonde head lowered and she bent forward panting. "Sit! Get someone to help--"
She slid from view.
"Sliek!" He punched at the comm link.
"Governor?" Coryon's startled face appeared in a view side-by-side to the empty screen of Maegan's office.
"See to Counselor Shale. She's collapsed in her office."
"Yes, sir."
It was only an instant before the face of Maegan's assistant filled the empty screen. He saw the shock, saw her bend. And in the time it took for her to examine Maegan, his head filled with questions. He didn't really think that any of the Pallas counselors, with the exception of Counselor Forman on Pallas Seven, were in harm's way, but the threats had held some ambiguity. What if they had misinterpreted them? What if someone had gotten to Maegan?
Coryon stood up. "I believe she just fainted, sir." She leaned over the vid console and pressed something. "I'm calling for a med team. She doesn't nourish herself properly and she was out exercising in the heat today."
"Thank you." Coryon seemed calm enough. His heart was still racing in his chest. "Coryon?"
"Yes, sir?"
"I've assigned a security team to her. Corenna and Drakal. I believe she met them today. See that she cooperates with them, will you?"
Interesting. Coryon's young face reflected of all things dismay before her professional mask slid into place. "Y-yes, sir."
He waited with her for the med team. Maegan was coming to by the time they placed her into the med hoverbot and, true to form, began to vocalize her objections as soon as she realized what was happening.
"Make sure she follows orders," he instructed the med officer. "And provide me with a report as soon as you can."
This produced more muffled, angry noises from inside the hoverbot. Alerik managed to stop himself just in time from wishing the med team good fortune with their newest difficult patient.
He closed off the vid link to Maegan's office and opened an audio link that had been flashing for some time. "Yes?"
"Drakal and Corenna, sir. We made contact."
"So I understand. She's on her way to the med facility as we speak."<
br />
"Sir?"
"She collapsed in her office in the middle of voicing her objections to your services. Heat exhaustion, I understand."
"She was out running on the beach, sir. Blasted hot, it was."
"Just make sure you have your perimeters, spics and cams set up. She's going to try every possible trick to evade you."
"Yes, sir. Sir?"
"Yes?"
"She seemed to think we were there to spy on her because she's a candidate for your team?"
Unseen by his subordinates, Alerik grimaced and shook his head. Trust Maegan to reveal something he didn't necessarily want to be public knowledge. Too late for that now. "Counselor Shale is Commander Trion's daughter. She's a hereditary candidate to serve a term on my team."
"She's off limits then?"
Disappointment laced Drakal's voice and Alerik didn't pretend to misunderstand. He was guilty for not offering full disclosure to begin with. "You know the rules."
"Yes, sir."
Chapter 4
Margaine Confluence:/Sixth Rising
Pallas Four
"How many?"
"Four."
"Where?"
"Andreelin."
Not so far then. Still, she was exhausted, and there was no option to refuse. She had to go. "I'll be there as soon as I can."
She closed off the transmission and dropped her head into her hands. Starpits, she was tired. Earlier that day, the med team had treated her and released her with the admonishment to go home and rest. She had gone back to Janas Corporation instead to finish her review of the report going to Governor Mariltar the next day.
Then she had come home and gone to bed and been awakened too soon a short while later by yet another urgent request. There were too many of them lately. Something was happening. It also worried her that she hadn't heard from Morgon in a while.
She pushed herself off the gel mattress and, in the half-light coming through the wide plexiwalls, dressed quickly. Pallas Four never experienced total darkness because of its moon-sun and she didn't want to turn on the lumens. She didn't know yet what kind of surveillance she had been placed under, but didn't doubt she was being closely monitored.
Andreelin, at least, was familiar to her, and on a little used route on the back side of the Grogon Belt. There was no reason for it to be patrolled. Once she was off the dock, she should be clear. But therein lay her challenge. She had to get off Pallas Four undetected.
The first part was easy. Governor Mariltar's spies couldn't possibly know about the tube tunnels leading from Morgon's habitat to the dock, the beach and Janas Corporation. Morgon had commissioned the tunnels rotations ago when he had first arrived on Pallas Four and the floating island was nothing more than a beach destination for a few seasoned travelers in search of solitude. In the heart of the tunnel network lay a complete self-contained, never-used living unit. Morgon, eccentric, lovable Morgon, who had passed his rebel gene onto his niece, had included vanishing as part of his master plan.
The problem was he had vanished without informing her, which wasn't part of the master plan.
In the bathing room, she slid aside a false wall, stepped onto a tube pad and lay down. As the wall closed behind her, the lumens in the tunnel came on automatically. She touched the control that would send the pad and her to the dock.
She hated this part. She was a trained fighter pilot, used to zero gravity and tremendous negative pressures, but Morgon had built the tunnel with velocity in mind. There was something unnatural about lying on a thin pad, with no protection whatsoever, and being sped through a narrow tube so fast that all she could do was hold on, grit her teeth and count the nans until it was over.
The night air was cooler than usual when she stepped out of the tunnel. Not a good sign. It meant the saturated wilding winds were moving in, which would make the return trip difficult.
The Lady Melia rode in isolated glory at the elevated smart dock built to blend in with the surrounding jungle. The dock was another of Morgon's amazing inventions, which had yet to be duplicated anywhere else.
She stood for a moment, instinctively cautious, but there was nothing to indicate the camouflaged dock had been breached. She stepped forward.
A shrill scream split the night air.
Batriel!
Blazing starpits, it was close. Goose bumps skittered across her skin and the hair on her nape stood at attention. Two steps to the lift pad, but she didn't know where the creature was. It could even be in the docking structure. With minimal movement, she palmed the slender tube of her laserray and tilted her head.
Nothing. She could see nothing. The batriel was unpredictable, an ambusher, a carrion eater. It would often attack and maim, then leave its victim to suffer agonies before returning to feed.
She made it to the lift pad, which at least protected her back, and was halfway through the ascent when a whirring rush of air and foul smell alerted her. She fired blindly. The creature's scream deafened her. Something large brushed against the dock, causing the lift pad to stall momentarily. She stumbled. The stench clogged her nostrils and she gagged. Then it was gone.
She staggered into the Lady Melia, locked down the hatch and grabbed an oxygen pack from emergency supplies. The cramp attacked her lungs and doubled her over as she shoved the pack over her nose then, mercifully, it eased as pure, sweet air rushed to drive out the contamination.
A warm wetness slid down her arm. Starpits! She'd been tagged. Her suit was split open across her bicep and was already saturated. She reached into the emergency supplies again. All she could do for now was wrap a self-sealing bandage over the wound. Proper care would have to wait. At least she felt no pain.
While she'd been busy with the aftermath of the attack, the smart dock had elevated the Lady Melia above the jungle canopy. Now a fast warning bleep sounded. Launch was imminent. She hurried to strap herself in.
She made an uneventful collection on Andreelin and delivery to Lexis, but on the return trip, little orange balls began to mess with her vision. Between the wilding winds and her impaired vision, she would have ended up on top of the jungle canopy without the smart dock to grab the Lady Melia as she came in. It was all she could do to navigate the lift pad and tunnel. Just before she lost consciousness on the floor of the bathing chamber in her habitat, she tried desperately to remember if she had sealed off the tunnel.
* * * *
She opened her eyes to Alerik Mariltar's stern features looming over her.
"Oh, no. Starpit brain hallos! My worst nightmare."
It was too much, of course, to hope for an hallucination.
The real man bared his teeth. "Believe me, a starpit is an entertainment club compared to me. But I do agree that I could be your worst nightmare."
He seemed to be in the grip of a strong emotion. A muscle jumped in his cheek. His eyes and temple mark were a dark, glowering sapphire.
She forced her gaze away and studied the unfamiliar room. It was windowless, stark and small. Med monitors lined the wall on one side of the sleeping platform on which she lay. A med facility, no doubt, but not Pallas Four's unless it had undergone some major remodeling.
She tried to lift herself up on her elbows and found she couldn't. Something held her arms and legs immobile. She also became acutely aware that, under the thin flex sheet that covered her, she was naked. And Alerik Mariltar stood there beside her, arms folded, and watched her with that simmering sapphire gaze.
As far as she could see, she had two choices. She took the one that was bound to irritate him the most, and simply closed her eyes.
"Bah! Won't work," he ground out. "I'm not leaving. If you want answers, you have to talk to me."
"I can wait for the med specialist."
Warm breath bearing the faint scent of sweet tiug leaf fanned across her face. He must have moved, must be leaning right over her. Her stomach flipped. She forced herself not to look.
"Problem is, everyone has been instructed not to provide answers.
"
She should have seen that one coming. She slit her eyes open. His face filled her vision. His eyes had lost their dark glower, and were a softer hypnotic blue, yet somehow infinitely more dangerous. In the glowing sapphire depths was a message she didn't dare, even for one nanonan, try to interpret.
"You can't do that," she forced out. Her throat was dry and achy. She needed a drink of something.
His lips curved upward. Surprise sent alarming tingles speeding through her veins. He had tiny dimples--two of them--in his chin when he smiled.
"Oh, but I can," he said. "I'm the governor, after all." Then as if he'd read her mind, he reached above her to the med panel and retrieved a small gel pouch. He brought it to her mouth and gently teased her bottom lip. His gaze flickered, moved from her mouth to her eyes, down her nose, across her cheeks. Under the thin sheet, she was suddenly extraordinarily hot.
"Open," he commanded softly.
She didn't even realize she'd obeyed until a life-giving fluid bathed the parched tissues of her mouth.
The dimples in Alerik's chin deepened. His eyes narrowed, shielding their expression. It was a relief. There was something about those hypnotic depths that made her fearful she would simply give in to whatever he wanted.
"I have an idea," he said. "Let's trade information."
"Like what?" she demanded, instantly suspicious. She wasn't in the best of shape to deal with Alerik Mariltar.
"Trade information" was undoubtedly a euphemism for interrogation. Her mind felt sharp enough but every time he bored that blue gaze into her, it was like a blanket smothered all her synapses and snuffed out coherent thought. "Did you drug me?"
His eyebrows flew up. "You have such an odd opinion of me."
"You have no idea," she muttered. She shifted her bottom and found the med platform adjusted with her. She still couldn't move her arms and legs and her helplessness was beginning to really aggravate her.
"Have you talked with your parents lately?"
"No." What did that have to do with anything? Except layer on guilt.