by Joyce Lavene
She felt her heartbeat accelerate then heard the resounding snap of an open laser knife. The worker who had tackled Fris was holding the knife in a deadly stance. She glanced around but didn't want to give herself away. Not stopping to consider what she did, Gael used what small amount of psi control she had to take hold of the man's mind. She forced the knife from his hand, and then sat him down on the warm ground.
Fris looked on in disbelief, wondering what had happened. The other workers crowded around, hoping something more was going to happen. Gael, at the inside of the ring, had only wanted to stop the fight.
Kat, greeting the ECHO recruits, stopped in mid-thought, leaving the eager young men and women standing beside their shuttle.
Arcon smiled as he watched his headlong flight towards the Guardsman group. I felt it too, my friend.
Kat burst through the ring of shouting workers. He saw the man sitting on the ground and searched the faces around him.
"I'm sorry, Officer Astri." Fris was apologizing, trying to control the group. "I'm not sure what happened. They just went berserk and I -- "
Quiet! The command was foremost in their brains. The laughter and jeering died at once.
Gael glanced up, her eyes catching his as he scanned the people in the group. Kat.
"Lt. Klarke?" Fris was bewildered, when he saw her face. "Is something wrong?"
"It's all right, Fris." She stepped forward and glanced down at the man on the ground. "He won't give you any more trouble."
Kat stood before her, his hands behind his back. The blue of his eyes blinded her to anyone else. "Good afternoon, Lieutenant Klarke. I hope your journey was successful?"
She nodded, sure there was a silly grin on her face like all the ECHO agents wore. She didn't care. "It's good to see you again, Officer Astri." She made the Rian obeisance. "Kalamir, Sadoh."
He returned her salute. "Would you like to tour the new gardens?"
"Thank you." She didn't care that Fris would never come to understand why she'd been there in his group.
"What brings you back to Chrysalis, Lieutenant?" Kat maintained his composure only with the strongest of wills. Lanier had told him that Gael had rejected her idea of the psi group of ENDO and left for a vacation.
"I've returned recently from Farga." She walked with him past the stunned ECHO agents, not realizing that they recognized her face.
"R'agus, I believe." It took you too long to return.
I had some things to do, to understand.
"And now?" Kat found that he didn't like the game as well as he'd thought.
"Now I find that I am in need of a teacher, Sadoh." She kept the pace calmly, not disliking his frustration.
I cannot be your kmar.
She gazed out towards the mountains and saw the beginning of green on the once dead world. Their progress had been remarkable in her absence. "I've come back to study with Arcon. He offered to teach me."
Kat nodded, accepting, if somewhat bitterly, that he couldn't do this for her. He couldn't trust his voice to speak or his thoughts not to betray him.
But I return to you for love.
His eyes burned on her face. "Your Councilwoman Lanier has told me that Arcon is merciless but effective."
Kat? The game suddenly lost its appeal for her as well and she lifted her frowning face to him.
He took her hands. "As I told you, Gael." You will never be alone again.
Gael only realized then that she'd been holding her breath. She warned him, "I don't think I can be one of the happy ECHO agents."
"I wouldn't expect so great an effort on your part. But if there is no further business between us, my love?" His gaze shimmered between them, wild with the heat and promise of more, shivering through her.
"No," she whispered. "I'm on vacation."
"Then permit me to show you a very private part of the garden."
Arcon nodded as he saw them disappear into the tiny new garden area. There was strength between them.
~ The End ~
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