by EJ Fisch
“So, Jada,” the lieutenant began, “how do you know Pay… Ziva and the others?”
Jada smiled wide and finished chewing her bite of food. “It’s really a long story. I’m actually her sister – adopted sister. I was brought here at age three when human slave trafficking was still big.” She looked at Ziva as if seeking permission to proceed with her story. With no negative response, she continued. “I was first brought into the house of the Haphezian Royal General, Njo Jaroon… Ziva’s stepfather.”
“Ziva’s royalty?” Aroska asked.
“No,” Ziva snapped, “and you’re interrupting.”
“Things improved fast,” Jada went on, “and before long Njo and his wife, Ziva’s mother, adopted me as one of their own children.” She cracked another smile. “Believe me, there was a lot of controversy at first, but when you’re the daughter of the Royal General, people learn to stop asking questions. So what’s your story?” This was directed at Aroska. “Four agents on an ops team? You don’t see that every day.”
Jayden watched as Aroska also looked to Ziva for permission to answer. Perhaps this topic had something to do with why they didn’t seem to be getting along. “The other two members of my team, Jole Imetsi and Tate Luver, were killed in an explosion three months ago,” Tarbic began. “We were responding to a bomb threat in one of the government offices when it happened. The device was like nothing we’d ever seen before, and we weren’t sure how to handle it.” He took a deep breath. “I should never have left the building. We called for back-up and I went out to meet the responders. The device was triggered remotely while I was outside and the entire place was completely leveled. Everything within a fifteen-meter radius of the bomb was totally vaporized, absolutely nothing left.”
Jada had been listening intently with her eyebrows furrowed. “I remember hearing about that. I’m so sorry. Did you ever find out who was responsible?”
Jayden was quite intrigued with the lieutenant’s story as well, but even more intrigued by the accusatory glance Aroska shot at Ziva before continuing.
“No,” he replied, sighing again. “They immediately suspected Solaris because of the location. That’s one of the reasons I requested a position in HSP’s Solaris Control Unit after that. Still, because the device was detonated while Tate and Jole were inside, I’ve always believed my team was specifically targeted.” His eyes shifted toward Ziva again. “But the case is cold now. We still haven’t figured out who was responsible.”
“Powers of Nosti!” Jayden exclaimed. “That’s terrible! How can…” He immediately stopped when he realized that everyone at the table was staring at him in shock. “Sorry,” he said quietly. “I’ll leave it alone. I’m sure it’s a difficult subject.”
“You’re fine,” Skeet said. “We just don’t usually say things like that here.”
“He means the ‘Nosti’,” Ryon explained. “We’ve banned Resistance presence here on Haphez ever since the Federation outlawed the use of nostium a couple decades ago. Being a Nosti is punishable by death.”
“Oh,” Jayden replied sheepishly, playing along. He felt his cheeks redden and kicked himself for allowing his tongue to slip. Lots of people around the galaxy swore by the Nosti though, regardless of whether they had any affiliation with the Resistance. Maybe his new Haphezian friends wouldn’t think anything of it. “You know, Nosti are starting to resurface all over the galaxy. I guess someone figured out how to replicate the nostium formula even after the Federation wiped out all the Resistance’s scientists and facilities.”
Skeet chuckled and shook his head. “Well, they’re sure not resurfacing here, not if they want to keep their heads. Their crazy brain powers can’t save them from us.”
“I’d love to get my hands on one of those retractable swords they use,” Aroska said. “What are they called – kytaras?”
Jada laughed. “How exactly do you plan on doing that?”
“Do they even use those things anymore?” Skeet snickered past another mouthful of food.
“I’m pretty sure they do, Skeet,” Ziva snapped.
Jayden couldn’t help but notice the way she ran her finger over her scar as she replied, almost as if reminding Skeet what had caused it. It seemed the topic of conversation was rather sensitive, but there was one more thing Jayden had to know.
“Have any of you ever met a Nosti?”
Everyone immediately fell silent and slowly directed their attention toward Ziva. She glared across the table at Jayden with stone cold features and slowly finished chewing her food. Part of him regretted asking, but the other part was suddenly very curious.
“I killed one when I was nineteen,” she said, deadpan. Her tone told him two things: she wasn’t kidding, and the conversation was over.
Nobody spoke for what seemed like a long time, though it was realistically only a few seconds. Jayden lowered his gaze back to his plate and pushed his food around with his fork, still able to feel Ziva’s blood-red eyes boring into him. The awkward silence was finally broken when Zinni cleared her throat.
“Sorry to break up the party,” she said, speaking for the first time. She had her portable computer in her lap and had barely touched her food. “I just got a hit on a Solaris member that our intruder recently made contact with. His name is Vinny Jaxton.”
“Jaxton,” Aroska said thoughtfully. “I know him. He’s a junkie who works out of the Square.”
“You think he’ll talk?” Ziva asked.
“I know he will. We can go to him first thing tomorrow.”
“Will finding him help you get my father back?” Jayden said.
Once again, the group fell silent, and he feared that the answer would be “no.” Or worse – they already knew something and weren’t telling him.
“Hopefully,” was Ziva’s abrupt response. The way she said it told Jayden that she didn’t actually think so, or she didn’t care.
He stood up, rattling the table and taking everyone by surprise. “If you’re not interested in finding my father, then why bother helping me?”
“Jayden,” Aroska said calmly, placing a hand on his shoulder. His other hand rested on the butt of his pistol. “Sit down. We’ll find your dad.”
Jayden sat, only after realizing that the others were also tense and ready to draw their weapons. Were they really going to shoot him? Was he nothing more than an inconvenience who had stumbled into their lives at exactly the wrong time? If these people weren’t going to help him, he knew someone who would.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, rubbing his face. “I’m just… tired.” He looked up. Everyone was watching him, completely emotionless. Fine. “Excuse me,” he sighed, throwing his utensils down onto his plate. He stood up and stormed away into his bedroom, leaving the dining room in stunned silence.
-17-
Payvan residence
Noro, Haphez
Ziva exited the guest room on feet so light that not even her own sensitive ears could register her footsteps. It was the wee hours of the morning and Jayden was fast asleep, completely unaware of the tiny transmitter she’d just planted on him. Based on the skill he’d shown in the forest and the way he’d lashed out at her team throughout the day, she was no longer convinced that he would just sit by and wait patiently as the search for Enrik Saiffe continued. Somehow she couldn’t picture him getting up and running off, but if he ever tried to take matters into his own hands, she thought it best to keep tabs on him.
Marshay and Ryon had already disappeared into their own rooms for the night. Everyone else remained in the living room, with the exception of Jada, who had left after dinner to make the trip back to Haphor after spending all day in Noro. Ziva had already instructed them all to go home and get some rest, but there they remained. She bade them all a terse goodnight and retreated into the darkness of her bedroom, reveling for a moment in the stillness and quiet.
The conversation at dinner had gone in directions she’d never expected it to. While it certainly wasn’t illegal to
talk about the Resistance and the Nosti on Haphez, people just didn’t do it. Ziva had to remind herself that, as a foreigner, Jayden simply didn’t understand that. The fact that he’d continued to press the discussion was what bothered her. Despite the fact that it had caused quite a stir throughout the city, her battle with the Nosti as a teen was not something anyone ever spoke about. The only reason she’d even brought it up was to shut Jayden up, and luckily he’d done exactly that.
Ziva swallowed and leaned against the closed door with her head tilted back and her eyes shut. A series of memories she had no desire to relive flashed through her mind. She saw her seven-year-old self sneaking off the supply transport and running into the heart of downtown Noro before anyone spotted her. It had been over two years since her father’s death in the Fringe War, but at the time the pain was still very fresh. Even now, more than twenty years later, the memory was clear enough to make her shiver.
In her mind’s eye, she could still see the towering buildings and lights all around her. Despite the fact that she’d grown up in the city, that had been the first time she’d ever been into the center of Noro. She didn’t remember being afraid, just lost and confused. Surprisingly nobody had paid any attention to the little girl wandering through the crowd with her backpack, alone.
She’d made it several blocks from the spaceport before the man hit her. More accurately, she’d hit him – her attention had been directed upward at a colorful advertisement and she’d walked right into him. A glass container of clear liquid had slipped from under his coat and shattered on the ground, spilling its contents. Ziva’s skin crawled as she remembered tripping on his foot and falling, and she could still feel the shard of broken glass slicing into her forearm as she hit the ground. She’d just assumed the jar contained water, at least until her arm began to tingle when it came in contact with the liquid. The blood seeping from the cut had bubbled into thick foam as the mysterious substance entered her bloodstream.
Ziva shook away the memory and stood upright, switching on her bedroom light. That had been right around the time the Federation had first taken action against the Resistance, so even at such a young age she’d been familiar with nostium and how it had recently been made illegal. The thought that she’d been exposed to it hadn’t even crossed her mind until two days later when the man from the street found her in an alley and dragged her away.
Now was hardly the time to be thinking about the past though. Sighing, Ziva cast aside the empty container from Jayden’s tracker and crossed the room to her bed. She felt a familiar surge of energy course through her body, one that began as a tingle in her head and traveled down her spine all the way to her toes. It was something she hadn’t felt in awhile and she sometimes wondered if she’d ever feel it again. Most of the time it made her nervous – considering she wasn’t supposed to ever feel it at all – but right now she was almost relieved that it was still there. Drawing a deep breath in through her nose, she whirled and reached toward the first object she laid eyes on: a small antique vase that rested on a shelf across the room.
The vase flew into her hand.
-18-
9 years ago
Noro, Haphez
The sound of footsteps coming up the rickety stairs drew Ziva’s attention to the door of the apartment. She continued folding clothes and stuffing them into her backpack, listening for the familiar sound of the lock disengaging and the rusty old door squealing open on archaic hinges. When nothing happened, she paused and listened. The footsteps had stopped at the top of the staircase, and she could hear a hushed voice speaking outside.
Curious, she moved silently to the door and placed her eye to the spy hole. Gamon stood a couple of meters away with his back to the apartment, communicator to his ear. He’d been making too many calls like this lately, and frankly she didn’t like it. She dreaded to think of what he did or who he talked to when he was out on his own. When she thought about it, she wasn’t actually sure when the last time was that she’d fully trusted him.
Ziva wasn’t sure who he was talking to, but she could hear his side of the conversation perfectly. “She’s scheduled for a fresh round today,” he said. That much she knew; it was the reason for his visit, after all. The bag he carried over his shoulder contained the nostium that would be introduced into her system for the first time in six years. Without it, her Nostia – the telekinetic abilities it gave her – would gradually start to wear off.
“I believe she’s ready,” Gamon was saying. “You can be the judge of that when you see her in action. If we can convert one Haphezian to our cause, we can assume that more will follow.”
Ziva’s eyebrows slid together and she took a step back from the door. What cause? As far as she knew, Gamon had cut all ties with the Resistance when he’d come to hide on Haphez. He was one of only a few members who had even survived the Federation’s attacks anyway. The nostium he had was all he’d managed to grab before the development center was destroyed and the other Nosti were wiped out, or so she’d thought. Ziva had always just assumed the two of them were on their own, but the things she was hearing were beginning to make her think otherwise.
The conversation seemed to be drawing to a close so she moved back to her bag and continued packing, feigning surprise when the door opened. Jak Gamon strode in, face contorted with some unknown emotion spawned by the transmission he’d just ended. He gently set his bag down and removed a glass container identical to the one he’d been carrying through the streets of Noro twelve years before.
“Oh, hey,” Ziva said, searching for a happy medium between sounding too suspicious and too enthusiastic.
“Are you ready?” Gamon asked, carefully pouring the nostium into a clear sack. He attached a thin tube and needle to it, creating a crude drip bag.
Ziva nodded and slowly moved toward him, eyeing the powerful substance as she went. It looked like any other batch of nostium – she doubted he’d be trying to poison her or some such thing, given that he and whoever he’d been talking to seemed to want her alive. She stood quietly as he inserted the needle into her arm. At nineteen years old, she’d already reached her peak height, standing just shy of two meters. Gamon was reasonably tall for a human, but he still had to look up to make eye contact.
She sat down and rested her arm on the small dining table while Gamon hung the bag from a hook on the wall. She’d been thirteen the last time she’d received a nostium infusion, but it was a feeling she hadn’t forgotten. The substance felt cold and it almost tickled as it traveled through her bloodstream. It reached her brain quickly and the familiar dizziness set in. Gamon had always assured her that the faintness was perfectly normal. It usually wore off a few minutes after the infusion was complete.
The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes. “Going somewhere?” Gamon finally asked, gesturing toward her backpack and the other items she’d set out on the sofa.
“I’ve decided to join HSP’s Junior Guard after all,” Ziva replied, shivering as a jolt of energy shot down her spine. “I’m going to live in the dorms with the other recruits.”
Gamon froze. “What?”
“You heard me. It’s high time I made a decision about what to do with the rest of my life. I’ve done well in my training at the academy and want to continue building my skills.”
“What about our training?”
“What’s the point?” Ziva stole a glance at the drip bag. It was about half empty. “Functioning here as a Nosti will be impossible. I’d rather be developing abilities that I can actually use.”
Gamon stared at her for a moment, dumbfounded. He raked his hand back through his brown hair and gestured at the needle and bag. “Then what are we even doing here?”
Ziva wasn’t exactly sure. Maybe part of her wasn’t ready to give up this power just yet. Her excuse could be that the invitation to join the Junior Guard had been a last minute thing and she hadn’t planned on leaving so soon. “I…” she began.
“You were seven years old wh
en you ran into me in the street,” Gamon said, stooping down in front of her. “You’d been exposed to nostium and you didn’t even know it. I couldn’t let you just walk away and find out for yourself. I was protecting you, just like I’ve protected you for the past twelve years, and just like I’m protecting you now.”
“You could have just left me alone,” Ziva spat, fighting away the haze that swirled through her head. “Things would have been a lot simpler and you’d have all of your precious nostium to yourself.”
“You’re wrong, Ziva. I saw the potential in you. I saw someone who was hurting, someone who needed a new purpose. You’d lost your father in the War, your mother married the Royal General, your half-brother and half-sister were born. You were all alone and had nowhere to go. Do you remember that?”
Ziva refused to look at him but managed a nod.
“Don’t forget that you agreed to let me train you. You agreed to let me give you a purpose again. You knew the risks but you did it anyway. Being a Nosti was just as illegal back then as it is today. Why say yes then and no now? Why would you let all these years of training and secrecy go to waste?”
Possibly because I just don’t trust you anymore, Ziva thought. The training hadn’t gone to waste though. She had been desperate for a new purpose, a renewed sense of control in her life, and learning the ways of the Nosti had given her exactly that. After losing her father and being rejected by her new family, the rebellion and independence felt good. It gave her a confidence she’d never had before. On top of that, the physical aspects of the training had given her an edge at the academy. The military and police used very different fighting techniques than the Nosti, but already having a fundamental understanding of melee and hand-to-hand combat had helped her catch on fast. She couldn’t deny that she’d enjoyed it. She’d enjoyed every last bit of it.
Everything except Gamon himself, that was. She was impressed that he’d managed to go undetected all these years. The only thing that had saved him was that the Federation had never bothered to hunt for Nosti on Haphez, as the Haphezian government had assured them that Resistance presence on the planet would not be tolerated. He’d treated her as an object that he owned rather than a person. He’d never been a father figure, not even a mentor. The most gracious thing he’d ever done was put Ziva up in this shabby apartment. She knew he’d only done it to save his own skin, to make sure the two of them would never be associated with each other, but it had benefitted her just as much. She’d lived in solitude and had been free to go to school, meet new people, and make her own decisions, meeting Gamon at a secret location for appointed training sessions.