by Viola Grace
Leo’s cheeks darkened. “We aren’t supposed to go in there.”
“Why not?”
Leo frowned. “I don’t know. I just know it has some museum pieces in it.”
“Well, since we can’t go to the museum, why don’t we take a look?”
“Okay, just for a few minutes.”
They walked down the steps carefully, turning left and walking down the long, arched hall, past the dining room and toward the large double doors.
Leo tugged at one door. “It won’t move.”
Dev grinned. She was being compelled to look in that room, and this was not the time or place to check her instincts.
She placed her hands carefully on the doors and pushed steadily until she felt metal give inside the wooden panels. She tugged one door gently to create a small space to slip through. Leo followed and they both gasped at what was lit by the lace-covered windows.
Huge weapons, obviously designed for the Yagoth height covered every wall. Swords, daggers, sabres, even a few maces were all hung up out of Dev’s reach. “Oh wow. Well, this explains a few things. Now, back to the hall, and I will shut the door.”
Leo didn’t need to be told twice.
Dev pushed the door closed and leaned against it. So much was now clear that her head ached. “Come along, Leo. Let’s see if Helsin has appeared yet.”
“Is he your boyfriend?” Leo seemed to have forgotten her earlier panic.
“No. He is the doctor at Udell base. He’s nice and I like him, but we are not pair bonded in any way.” She tried to say it firmly, but her voice wavered.
They walked toward the grand staircase, and in the entry hall was the man of the hour. Helsin stood waiting for his medical kit to be examined, and he looked wonderful in a black-and-gold uniform that matched the default pattern on hers. His belt and its myriad pouches were being rifled through, but he took it all with calm and grace.
“Don’t mention our trip to the grand hall.” Dev whispered it to Leo.
Leo looked at her blankly. “Where?”
“The big double doors. The grand hall.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. We just took a walk as a study break. Maybe Yagoth atmosphere is not suited to you, Dev.” Leo shook her head and went upstairs.
Dev was confused, there was no recognition on Leo’s face when the hall was mentioned, and normally, every emotion she experienced trooped across her features. She shook her head and turned to greet Helsin.
He was buckling his belt back in place and met her with a grin. “It is good to see you are not suffering any ill effects of Yagoth, Agent Jarix.”
“It is just good to see you, Dr. Helsin.”
He winced. “It did sound pompous, didn’t it?”
She laughed. “Yes, it did. Well, here comes the master of the household. I will see you later. Off to teach Leo what parts of a Lysam to avoid during a handshake.”
He grabbed her arm, and she faced a surprised expression. “How do you know that?”
“I am here as her tutor, and I only have to keep four hours ahead of her. I stay up late and read.” She patted Helsin on the cheek and headed up the stairs.
She wanted so much to hug him hello, but they were both working. If he stayed until the ratification day, they would catch the same shuttle home. There would be time for a hug then. In the meantime, she was going to do more research, but her topic was going to be the Plenai. If no one entered that room and the Yagoth had forgotten their warrior nature, there had to be a reason. The Plenai were a good start.
Dev left Leo to do her research and dragged her communication pad onto her lap. She keyed in Archive, History of the Plenai.
The pad was standard issue for the Sector Guard, and in five minutes, she had the entire recorded and rumoured history of the predators of Yagoth.
Dev was shaking after the first hour of reading and sick to her stomach by the time she finished the file.
“Dev. Dev. It’s time for dinner.”
Leo touched her shoulder, and Dev stood up with a jerk. “Yes. That sounds right. Dinner.”
“Where were you? Your mind seemed a million miles away.”
Dev smiled and patted her shoulder. “Just working on some research for tomorrow’s lesson.”
Leo and Dev joined High Prefect Rasco and Helsin at the dining table.
Helsin gave her a peculiar look. “Agent Jarix, are you all right?”
Dev looked at him and shook her head. “No. I am not. I need to speak to you when you have a moment.”
He nodded. “Are you feeling unwell?”
She smiled weakly and passed the soup to Leo. “I really don’t know.”
Rasco cheerfully told Leo about the medical exam she was going to have the next day as well as the injections she would have to endure.
Dev’s mind was whirling during the entire dining experience, and when everyone stood up to go his or her separate ways, Helsin spoke quietly to Rasco before turning to her. He jerked his head, and she walked up to him. “I need to speak to you in private. It is important.”
“Where? You know this house better than I do.”
She took him by the hand and led him through the hallway and into the grand hall. A shove from her hands dislodged the door once again. Once they were through it, she pushed it closed again in case anyone got curious.
“All this privacy for me?”
She exhaled in a gust. “Can you see in the dark?”
He fumbled at his belt and a light flared wide. “Now what?”
“Look at the walls, Helsin. These are not the walls of a people who were always victims. They were warriors, and they have forgotten everything about it. It comes out in their habit of hiring folks to fight their battles, but they no longer act in self-defence. I have done some research. The Plenai had a doctor who created a memory suppressant that could be deployed using a warhead that landed in a populated area. Once it landed, the people there would forget how to fight. Perfect targets.”
“What are you saying, Dev?”
“I can’t prove any of it, but I think the Plenai have a field keyed to the Yagoth deployed on the planet.”
“Why would you think that?”
“In the last four centuries, no Yagoth has left the planet. Not one. Rasco was to be the first, but he would not go if his daughter weren’t alive, now would he?”
“Can you prove any of this?”
She sighed. “No. I don’t even know how to go about it. How can you look for something that has been beneath a planet’s surface for centuries?”
He chuckled and pressed the nodules on his uniform at his neck. “You call a Stellar Storm.”
Chapter Ten
Leo woke up the next day without any memory of the grand hall, confirming that much to Dev.
To Dev’s shock, her suit spoke to her. “Dev, this is Stellar Storm. I am doing a global pass, but I have to tell you, you did not call me for nothing.”
“Thanks, Stellar Storm. Keep me apprised of the situation.”
Leo was staring at her. “What was that?”
“Don’t your clothes talk to you? How peculiar. Let’s get some breakfast. I am getting accustomed to that blue stuff.” She walked out of their room and waited for Leo to join her.
Leo frowned. “What was that all about?”
“I called a friend to do a geographic survey. Your planet has a lot of fruits and grains to produce and there may be a more effective planting pattern.”
“You suck at lying.”
Dev sighed. “I know.”
Breakfast was light, and Dev felt the relief that came from handing a problem off to people more capable of managing it.
Helsin smiled brightly at her, but he said, “I need to talk to you after breakfast, Agent Jarix.”
“Of course, Dr. Helsin. Before or after you see Leo for her shots?”
“Before. It concerns our mutual friend.”
“I understand.”
Rasco was looking betwee
n them curiously. “Is there something I should know?”
Dev sighed, “Yes, but not yet. Nothing is confirmed, and I will not cast aspersions before I have confirmation.”
The consummate politician, Rasco nodded. “Of course. When you have the facts, please tell me.”
Leo nodded. “I will be upstairs studying. You can come and get me when it is my turn.”
Helsin nodded and with the two Yagoth gone, he came to Dev’s side. He whispered in her ear. “The Plenai are coming. They amassed an army and are moving in before the ratification that would secure the assistance of the Alliance. There is nothing that can be done until they enter this system, and by then, it will be too late. All of the Guardsmen of Udell are occupied elsewhere aside from you, me and Stellar Storm. We are it.”
“What do we do?”
“We free the population from Plenai control and arm ourselves until reinforcements arrive.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “You look good in purple, but I want your regular skin.”
“Back. You want my regular skin back.”
He grinned and stroked her neck. “That too.”
She shivered and cleared her throat. “I will go and fetch Leo.”
“I will be in the main-floor offices.”
Dev nodded and went to retrieve her charge.
She and Leo were on her way back down the stairs when three Yagoth demanded to speak with the high prefect.
The security officer stood, drawing his stunner, but the Yagoth fired first.
“Leo, run to the grand hall. I will be right behind you.”
Leo ran as fast as she could and Dev followed her, blocking any projectiles or blasts. She pressed the door open, and when Leo was inside, she shoved it closed an instant before the thud sounded against it.
Leo looked around her as if everything was new. “Wow. This is amazing.”
“Leo, grab two of the short blades and hand me a long blade. I can’t quite reach them.”
Leo reached up and grabbed the long sword, handing it over. Her hands looked awkward around the grips of the blades, but she held them.
“Leo, this is your life or your death. There is no choice.” Dev fumbled with one hand and tried to trigger her com device. “Stellar?”
Helsin’s voice answered. “Thank the stars. Where are you, Dev?”
“The grand hall. We are barricaded in, but I don’t think these Yagoth are pacifists. They are going to get in.”
“If Stellar found the source, can she blast the one in this area first? I am a little eager to get my charge out of here in one large piece.”
“She can and she will. Just hold tight.”
Leo held the daggers in her hands and looked between the door and the window.
Dev looked and saw shadows move, “Damn it, the window.”
Glass shattered as the three men came through it.
Dev stepped in front of Leo and took the blasts with her head high. When they got close enough, she raised her sword and used the blade training that she had endured.
She disarmed two of them, but the third fired close enough to send her back a pace.
He reached up and took down a blade of his own and the other two followed suit.
It was not graceful, but she hacked the arm off one attacker before the central one slid his blade between her ribs. She choked on her own blood but returned the favour.
A roar of rage sounded on the other side of the door, and it shattered a moment before a beast of red and black came through it. The eight-foot-high beast snarled at the man scrabbling for his gun and calmly ripped his arms off, tossing them aside.
Dev knelt with the blade entering her chest and exiting her back. The beast came to her and stroked her hair with bloody hands. “Hello, Helsin.”
He shifted back to his normal form and touched her face. “You recognized me?”
“The creature had your eyes.” She coughed and more blood frothed at her lips. “I think I need this sword out.”
Leo rushed to her with shock on her face. “What happened? I don’t understand.”
Stellar’s voice came through Dev’s suit. “Destroying the first beacon in…three…two…one.”
Leo fainted.
Helsin helped Dev to her feet and supported her down the hall. “I know it is horrible, but I need to get to my kit and you need to lie down. Neither can be done in that room.”
It was slow going past all the passed-out Yagoth, but in a few minutes, Dev was lying down on her side and Helsin was working to save her life.
“We are going to talk about your sudden change in height, you know.”
He sighed. “I know. Just let me put you back together, and you can quiz me all you like.”
She smiled and rested her head on her folded arm. “Go ahead. I have nothing better to do today.”
He stared at her for a moment before chuckling. “Don’t make me laugh. I need steady hands.”
“Stop whining and get to work.”
He complied, but she suspected that it was because he couldn’t think of a comeback.
Chapter Eleven
Devani came awake with a jerk that made her wince. Leo’s face was close to hers, and her student burst into tears when Dev woke.
“I was so worried. I would have killed them all over again if I had a chance.” Leo shifted and Dev noted the blades at her hips.
“How is your father taking the shift in thinking?”
“He is in the Prefect Assembly preparing them for war. We won’t be leaving Yagoth after all. There is no need. We once again have a population who will defend itself.” Leo smiled and tilted her head. “When did you know?”
“It never seemed right. Your people are intelligent and aggressive in every other portion of their lives, so it was unnatural for them not to defend themselves. It just screamed wrong to me.”
“Why were there attacks on me? Father never said.”
“You told your aunt not only about the treaty but the plans to leave afterward. If you and your father left Yagoth your instincts would recover instantly and it would have raised your father’s suspicions. You know him, he would have collected every scrap of information that he could on the matter, and he would have returned home to free his people.”
Leo smiled, “Yes, he would, but if I were dead, there would have been no reason for him to leave, correct?”
“Correct.”
“So by killing me, they kept their secret and perhaps it would enable them to reduce my father’s influence. If he died, the treaty would have ratified immediately, but if he went mad with grief, it would have been discarded or suspended until or if he recovered.”
That Dev did not know. “Well, it was good that we kept you alive then.”
Leo giggled. “Very good.”
Dev laughed but winced as the ache intensified. “That sort of hurts.”
“I am sorry for your injury. I thought you were impervious to damage.”
Dev didn’t want to confess the whole thing. “It comes and goes. I can always stand between you and danger, but for myself, it gets a little complicated.”
Leo touched her forehead and brushed her hair back. “I like your normal colour. I understand your urge to blend in, but the cream is very pretty.”
She looked at her hands, and sure enough, the pigment was gone. “Oh hell.”
“Dr. Helsin said it was not needed anymore. I would have to agree. The household is carrying weaponry and everyone is on guard against the incoming Plenai. They will not take anything here without a fight.”
Dev loved hearing the determination in Leo’s tone. She tried to get up, but Leo placed an arm on her shoulder. “Stay still. Dr. Helsin ordered that you remain down until he could retrieve some more advanced devices from his shuttle.”
“Fine. I am feeling a little deflated anyway.” She grinned.
Leo laughed. “A stab wound will do that to you.”
“Well, I may have been full of hot air but that is over now.” She snickered at h
er own wit.
“Do you really not feel pain?”
Dev wrinkled her nose. “Not the same way most beings do. I feel pressure and discomfort but not the burning of the nerves that most feel. I have always been that way, as if my nerves are armour coated against being damaged. It might be a birth defect or part of my talent. I really don’t know.”
Helsin walked in with several stacked packs, and he smiled in relief to see her awake.
“Good. I have some regenerators here that should do the trick to getting you up and around.”
She frowned. “You de-purpled me.”
“It didn’t suit you, and you no longer need to fit in. I like you this way.” He winked and lifted a device with a flat head out of one of the packs. “This should do the trick.”
“Oh, mighty doctor using tricks now. Fancy.” Dev let the Masuo fade from around the insertion site, and when Helsin pressed the device to the healing wound, she flinched. “Cold.”
He chuckled. “Sorry. Now that it is against your skin, I will turn it on.”
Warmth radiated through her, localizing at the wound and spreading outward. She wiggled her toes happily at the lack of pain.
“Is it working?”
“It feels okay.”
“Good. I will attach the other to your back.”
He did, and he left her there for two hours until the warmth receded and nothing was left but the soft hum of the objects stuck to her.
Helsin touched the area and smiled. “That did it. A nice, slow regeneration beam. I have only met two beings who can tolerate it and you are one of them.”
Leo sat up. “I will bring in some food and something hot to drink. It always cheers me up.”
Dev smiled and struggled to sit up. “Well, we have really thrown the Yagoth into it, haven’t we?”
Helsin smiled and perched on the edge of the couch that had served as her medical bed. “You threw them into it. I thought it was a simple bodyguarding job or I would never have prodded Guardian to send you.”
“I am glad you did. Now, what was that transformation? It seems you are more than a diagnostician.”