Chrysalis

by Joyce Lavene

  Chrysalis

  By Joyce and Jim Lavene

  Science Fiction

  Published by Awe-Struck E-Books, Inc.

  Copyright ©2002

  ISBN: 1-58749-362-4

  Electronic rights reserved by Awe-Struck E-Books, all other rights reserved by author. The reproduction or other use of any part of this publication without the prior written consent of the rights holder is an infringement of the copyright law.

  Chrysalis

  The mills of the Gods grind slowly,

  Yet they grind exceedingly small.

  -- Unknown

  Chapter One

  "Lieutenant Klarke?"

  Lieutenant Gael Klarke's dark head shot up when the Council called her name. She got to her feet immediately. "Yes, ma'am?"

  "It's good to see you again so soon. I trust you enjoyed your brief vacation?"

  Gael maintained her standing posture before the twelve chairs on the dais. Eleven of them were empty. She faced the woman who'd spoken to her. "It was very restful. Thank you, ma'am."

  "I'm sorry that we had to interrupt your rest," the grande dame of the Council continued, picking up a file set before her. She adjusted the strange eyewear that she favored on her sallow face. The round, lighted protrusions made her eyes look enormous.

  Lanier had always been a personal favorite of Gael's. She was the oldest seated Council member and her eccentricities were well known to everyone. Gael had been her personal security guard when she'd first arrived at the Endo complex. She'd learned to like, as well as respect, the older woman and her agile mind.

  "If you'll take your seat, Lieutenant, we'll begin. Lights."

  The lights went dim as Gael sat down. The three dimensional preview was set in place between her seat and the Council dais.

  "How much do you know about the planet R-12, Lieutenant?"

  Gael searched her memory quickly. "Very little, ma'am. It's unpopulated. Has an unknown past history. There's a synthetic fuel plant there, I believe."

  "That's right. There has been for nearly a millennium. One of the first that was ever set in place even before ENCOM was established and created the rules that fit production of the ore into fuel. I'm sure you know those rules, Lieutenant?"

  Gael nodded, eyes on the bright preview that as yet showed nothing. "Only uninhabited planets or artificially formed worlds can be used because of the threat the process poses to vegetation and life forms. Monitored constantly. Self containing and repairing."

  "Exactly," L. Lanier agreed. "Now I want you to watch and listen to this and give me your opinion."

  The picture that formed in the holographic preview was dim. There were basic outlines of the building formation and a few robotic transports. A swirl of dust, caused by an unseen form on the viewer was followed by a loud grinding sound. Then nothing. Only a steady hum that grew in depth and a sudden disturbing --

  "Laughter?" Gael blurted out loud, turning to the Council dais again as the lights came on and the picture disappeared.

  L. Lanier's eyes glowed. "Exactly. My thoughts exactly, Lieutenant. Someone has sabotaged the plant. Who do you think could be responsible?"

  Gael thought about her briefing before the meeting. "The ever-lasting competition between Guardsman and Bonding for the rights to that fuel?"

  "Possibly."

  "It could also be political sabotage. Possibly even a prelude to a more aggressive attack against the government." Gael considered the bigger picture.

  "We want you to find out, Lieutenant," L. Lanier told her firmly. "Of course, ECHO and Guardsman are sending in their own investigators. We want you to observe the repairs."

  "Find out what happened and why." Another Council member joined the conversation. His voice was deep, resonant and slightly familiar. Curiously, he kept his face in the shadows.

  Not an accepted member of the Council, Gael surmised. She was surprised he'd waited so long. Usually, they fought to see who would get in the next word. There was something they weren't telling her. The tension and secrecy was palpable. It was difficult to get a true feeling for the situation since they obviously didn't want her to know anything more. "Is there an action you want me to take?"

  "Just observe the planet. Tell us what you find. And, Lieutenant?" L.Lanier was specific. "You are to report back directly to me via my private channel. Understood? There will be no other communication."

  "Understood, Council." Gael acknowledged Lanier's rank with a salute. Menor had been right. There was something big happening here. And they meant to put her in the middle of it.

  It was only an hour after receiving her assignments that her travel papers were ready. It usually took three days. It was only a few minutes later that Gael stormed into her coordinator's office and demanded an immediate change in the curriculum.

  "I can't, won't, work with this man or whatever he is," she told Menor shortly, no preliminary niceties. "We all know what happened last year when they found that leak on Padda. If he goes, then I'm not."

  Menor sat, terrified, in his high backed chair, worrying a paper into threads. He'd been Gael's coordinator for a year and though he loved her silently and devotedly, he never quite got used to her rampages. "I want to help, Gael. Really. But it's out of my hands. This order is coming directly as an ENDO and ECHO joint project. You know how rarely that happens. They want -- "

  "I don't care what they want," Gael raged. "I won't watch my career torn apart by something that renegade does. He never works within the prescribed framework. Last year was just the tip of his anti-authority complex. I won't -- "

  "You'll lose your rank," Menor whispered tentatively.

  "I...excuse me?" She stopped in mid-tirade to stare at him over the wide, perfectly organized desk. "Would you mind explaining that?"

  He cleared his throat and dared a glance up at her. "You will lose your rank. Possibly face a Council trial and total expulsion."

  She searched his worried face, pinning him with her merciless gaze. "You're serious." She started to pace the length of the room. "They'd do it, wouldn't they? Why me, Menor? Couldn't they find someone else to do this?"

  He stood and ventured around to the front of the desk, starting to put his hand on her arm then retreating, linking his long fingers together. "Gael, technically, this is an ENDO project so you will be in charge. Last year on Padda, that was an ECHO job that they won the contract on, so Kalatri was in charge. True, no one expected him to do what he did, I mean, who could have foreseen -- "

  "So there's no way out?" She looked across at him, her brown eyes hard.

  He swallowed. "Not...not unless you want out permanently. You know if it were up to me, I wouldn't...I mean that you wouldn't -- "

  "I understand, Menor. I'm not blaming you." She squared her shoulders beneath the ENDO red uniform. "But please be sure that Lanier knows that when I get back, I'm taking a year off. And that if I have to take that renegade apart to get the job done, I will."

  Menor breathed, daring to relax for an instant when she suddenly turned back from the door. His pulse rate jumped and he had the uncommon urge to throw himself at her feet.

  "You know what we call him, don't you?"

  His face and mind went blank.

  "Wildcat. We have a picture of him on the practice field. I always score through the eyes."

  Menor tried to swallow, tried to find something glib to say. The door swished closed behind her and he looked up to find himself sitting on the floor.

  All right, you've been handed a bomb that's probably going to explode before you can get away from it, Gael told herself, taking the small cruiser out of space dock a little faster than was necessary. The pointed comment from the control officer brought her back to her situation.

  She wa
s angry. No, dammit, she was furious! Twenty years of her life was wrapped up in ENDO. When they'd asked her what she'd considered doing with her life when she'd first come to ENCOM, there had only been one answer, ENDO. She wanted to be an ENDO officer.

  As soon as she'd been able, she'd entered the academy. She was the youngest cadet ever accepted. She fought hard for her place in the organization. She mastered weapons, schoolwork, and her own young body that was constantly at war with her brain in those days. She'd been at the head of her graduating class and the youngest officer decorated for bravery and honor at her first mission. ENDO was her life and her family. There was nothing else as far as she was concerned.

  "So let's start over," she said out loud, putting the light cruiser into warp at the outer perimeter of Selim-3's moon where the ENDO base headquarters were located. "You aren't furious with ENDO or even Lanier. You want to take Wildcat apart. He's the problem. You have to be the solution."

  The biggest problem was that she couldn't stand telepaths. It was a personal failing. One she shared with most of the ENDO officers. She'd been lucky in her career and only had to work with a few. It wasn't that she was prejudiced exactly, she reasoned, calling up information from the computer on Kalatri Astri. They made her nervous. She was more comfortable with a loaded weapon at her head than with a telepath standing anywhere in the room.

  ENDO didn't accept telepaths into their ranks but their counterparts, ECHO, did. They actually preferred them. She shuddered.

  A face of stunning physical beauty came up on her viewer. He was startlingly attractive, she assessed, totally unmoved. She stared at his pure profile. Of course, all Rians were good to look at and all telepathic to one degree or another. This particular Rian, with his long, flowing mane of tawny hair and those clear azure eyes, was one of the strongest. No one had realized how strong until last year on Padda.

  A deadly gas leak had erupted and a friend of hers, Hank Seus, had joined Wildcat, Kalatri Astri's nickname in the ENDO ranks, at the site. There was very little time for evacuation. The gas was deadly to both the people and the planet's environment.

  Hank had taken one look at the situation and had moved to cordon off the area that would be affected first, trying to keep the damage to a minimum. There had already been some loss of life on the planet. His plan would have accepted a few more casualties while insuring that minimum damage was done to the ECO system.

  Hank had told her afterwards how Wildcat had just looked at him. He didn't argue. He just looked at him like he wasn't there at all. That's when it happened.

  Without a word, the telepath took control of the situation. Not bothering with established guidelines for evacuation, he telepathically commanded scores of inhabitants to leave the area, creating a panic when they all awakened, as if from a dream, to find themselves already on transports.

  Then he'd used a mindshield to cap the leak until it could be sealed adhesively. All of this had been accomplished while he held Hank Seus and his team immobile at the site against their will.

  When they realized what had happened, Hank was furious and tried to attack Wildcat. He was summarily sent with the other evacuees to the transports, fighting the telepath's control but losing ground quickly. Finally, he had ended up at the other side of the planet.

  There had been talk of sanctions against ECHO. ENDO had demanded an apology from Wildcat. In the end, it all came down to the project. Few lives were lost, the ECO system had been secured and only Hank Seus' pride had been truly injured. ENDO had gone on to bid on other projects against ECHO and nothing else had been said.

  But no one at ENCOM had forgotten and the incident added fuel to the already uneasy relations between the two groups.

  The Alliance encouraged the rivalry between ENDO and ECHO. It kept prices low on their services and some had even hinted that the Central Alliance was afraid of either group gaining too much power. Together, so the theory went, ECHO and ENDO could overthrow the government.

  The incident on Padda was evidence enough to Gael that the uniting theory was useless power trash. ENDO was started to aggressively defend against all environmental threats, putting the problems of the inhabitants after the safety of the planet's ECO system. They maintained ENCOM at Selim-3's moon with weapons and trained their agents in a militaristic fashion.

  ECHO was inhabitant friendly, always looking for the peaceful solution, working with the people and the planet to find a safe way to end the threat. They were mostly telepaths. They maintained Miccah Station at the far end of the quadrant. It was an artificial satellite that was used for research and study. They'd signed peace treaties separate from the government with three other systems.

  It was talk and action, Gael thought, as she pulled her cruiser out of warp just before reaching Miccah Station. That was the basic difference between the two groups.

  "Good morning, Lieutenant Klarke. We hope your journey was pleasant."

  Gael quickly shut down the ECHO service file, storing it for future study and picked up the image of the smiling ECHO station communicator. "Yes, thanks." As always, she disliked the ECHO effusiveness.

  "You'll be here to pick up Kalatri Astri for the R-12 mission," the rosy-cheeked young woman continued with a smile and a nod of her pretty head.

  "I thought that was a coded mission?" Gael searched for some sort of rank or insignia on the bright blue uniform on her screen.

  "It is indeed, Lieutenant," the woman agreed, not a smile out of countenance. "I am Communications Manager Joy Frem. Your progress has been monitored and I am speaking to you on a closed channel."

  "I see," Gael responded, "and Wild -- I mean Astri? Is he ready to come aboard?"

  "We have not been able to locate him as of this time, Lieutenant. However, we are certain he will be found shortly. If you would like to avail yourself of our hospitality while we look for him, we would be glad to have you."

  "No, thanks." Gael shuddered at the thought of all that understanding and help surrounding her and opted for a nap. "Just give me a call when you've found him."

  She cut the girl short while she was assuring her that they would certainly let her know when Astri was located. Gael guided the cruiser into an outside berth at the shining station and put her communications on standby, lying back in her seat.

  The night before had been a long, sleepless one with too much anger and too little action. The combination had resulted in too many weird dreams. Now that she was about to meet the problem head on, she could relax. He was only a Rian. A telepath, true, but she'd dealt with them before and she'd deal with Wildcat.

  Chapter Two

  Gael awoke dry mouthed and not sure where she was after a particularly nasty dream. She was on the beach at Del Sol again, her hastily evacuated vacation spot. The sun was hot and she was watching good-looking men saunter by when a face of unreal beauty formed before her.

  Kalatri Astri.

  He was tall and moved with an elegant grace. His ECHO blue uniform changed into a miniscule blue swimsuit as he approached. He looked down at his change of garment. "You have a very active imagination, Lieutenant Klarke. And your mind works in a way I find most attractive."

  The sunlight was golden around his head and the breeze blew his hair around his face. She could see the light shining in the intense blue of his eyes as he bent his head down to hers. His mouth was just a fraction away...

  Gael almost fell out of her seat getting to her feet. The dream left her irritable and wondering how long it was going to take to find her nemesis. She sat back down, punched in her COM number and waited for Joy Frem, the smiling cherub, to appear.

  "Did you enjoy your rest, Lieutenant?" Kalatri Astri's face appeared on the screen.

  After her dream, Gael felt uneasy and unready to face him. She had a face she used, the visage terrible, one cadet had called it when she had drilled him for four hours on correct procedure. She turned the visage on Kalatri who looked satisfactorily appalled by it. "What the hell are you doing down there? You
knew when I'd be here and you know how important this mission is."

  "I assure you, Lieutenant, that I know of both these things. I relieved Joy at the console to speak with you privately."

  "So speak," Gael added, yawning despite herself.

  He smiled quickly. "Your countenance is not quite intimidating enough yet for your words to have much bite. I am tougher than I appear, Lieutenant. I won't be bullied by ENDO or you."

  Gael pushed back her instant anger. "All right. What do you want from me?"

  "A great deal. But you aren't prepared as yet to accept all that I can give in return."

  "I won't ask again," she replied in a voice of deadly quiet. "Stop playing games with me, Wi-Astri. I won't be danced around by pretty ECHO words either."

  "Ah, my pet name. Wildcat, isn't it?"

  Gael had the grace to look ashamed. She was better trained than this man, had more experience. She'd let her anger get the better of her and made herself look like a fool. "My apologies, Kalatri Astri. If we might start again? We have orders to rendezvous with Guardsman security by this time tomorrow at Land's End. Are you ready to proceed?"

  "You may call me whatever you wish, Lieutenant Klarke." He smiled at her. "As for the meeting, I have taken the liberty of communicating my desire to meet with Guardsman the day after tomorrow. There is something that I must attend to here at the station before I can join you."

  "You have taken the liberty --?" Gael was speechless. Only an ECHO agent would find something as important as a pre-appointed meeting too difficult to schedule.

  Swallowing her anger and the words she'd learned in the alleys of Farga as a child, she faced him. "And what am I supposed to do until you're ready to leave tomorrow? This cruiser wasn't designed for comfort."

  "I'd suggest that you enjoy our hospitality here at Miccah, Lieutenant. I'm sure you can find adequate comfort here as well as a good meal and something to keep yourself occupied. I'll be finished here in plenty of time to make our new rendezvous with the Guardsman group."