by Viola Grace
She felt a pang and went quiet. She had Citadel Balen to call home, but that was the extent of her connection. Her family had had her expunged from their minds. She had nothing and no one.
It was definitely a sobering thought.
“You are going to need to be calibrated for a breather. The mines don’t have a guaranteed supply of breathable atmosphere.”
Aymin didn’t say anything. There wasn’t anything to add. She sat quietly while the skimmer landed and walked with Jex to the outfitter.
A man with rich brown skin and amber eyes was waiting for them. “Soul Twister Aymin?”
“Yes.”
“I am an Alliance biological specialist. My name is Tedro. If you would put on this breather, I will attach this monitor and we can see what kind of air flow you need to survive.”
“I thought they did these tests at the Citadel.”
Tedro shrugged. “The sample was flawed.”
“Oh. Okay.” She put the breather on and followed his direction to inhale and exhale slowly. The monitor on her neck was registering on the nearby display, and she continued her breathing for five minutes until Tedro called a halt to it.
“That is... you have... use this breather if you need it. You have some time before you will be affected by a lack of oxygen.”
“How long?” She pried off the monitor.
“I don’t know without further testing. For this mission’s sake, you are good with a standardized breather as needed.” He smiled tightly, but there was something in his gaze that said things were not normal.
“There is a problem, isn’t there?” She arched her brows.
“Well, it seems that there wasn’t a problem with the original scans. Your body continues to function at normal levels no matter what the oxygen level of your blood is.” Tedro stared at the reports.
“Oh. That. My world has varying levels of breathable atmosphere. None of the medics bothered asking us how it worked.”
“Right. Well, you are cleared for your assignment. Bring the breather, just in case.”
She shrugged and took the belt, tank and mask. “Thank you.”
“Enjoy your trip and be sure to go to your medics as soon as you return to check for any infection or injury.”
Aymin nodded. “Sure. I have read the protocols.”
Jex cleared his throat. “If you are ready, we should get on our way. We have to hit a jump window.”
Aymin chuckled. “Fine. Lead me to the shuttle.”
Jex took her bag and her breather, and they headed for the shuttles on the tarmac.
He tucked her bag in a cubby in one of the rooms with a bunk in it and beckoned for her to follow him.
“Where am I going?”
He chuckled. “We are going to the command deck, and we will converse about the mission while we fly.”
“I get to see how this flies?”
“You may have orders from the Citadel, but they didn’t put them in your file. If you are interested in learning to fly a shuttle, I am willing to teach you.”
The halls were well lit, and the deck plates were roughened to grip their feet. Aymin was excited to see the heart of the ship, and she entered the small space with the two chairs, monitors, locked wall panels and wide instrument arrays.
He showed her which seat was hers, and it conformed to her body as she settled.
“Jex, why are you showing me this?”
He chuckled and put on a flight harness. “Because I think you need something.”
That was all he said as he talked her through the launch procedures, explaining that most planets had a protocol to leave their space. She needed to learn those protocols before she left her base, because many of the worlds reacted with weaponry if you didn’t leave correctly.
The shuttle hummed under them. They got clearance from Balen Base, and they were off and on their way to the mission.
Aymin was about to find out what made the Sector Guard tick.
Chapter Six
“So, why do you have to use the jump halo? I have heard that there are folks who can link with the ship.”
“I am not one of them.” Jex chuckled as he adjusted the halo.
“Oh. Right.” She sat with her knees drawn up, and she watched as he confirmed their destination before he triggered the jump.
She didn’t even shiver as they passed through the two linked points in space. The jump moved around her and the ship pulled her along. She didn’t have to do a thing.
Jex pulled the halo off and rubbed his head. “How are you after that?”
“Good. Jumps don’t bother us.”
“Us?”
“The Backers. We were watched on the way to Balen. We seem suited to space travel.”
“Well, that is a good thing. My kind is not. It has taken years of practice to get me behind the controls and even longer before the travel stopped making me ill.”
She stared at him for a few moments.
He finally asked, “Did you have a question?”
“Yes. Why are you being so familiar with me? I mean, the folk at the Base and Citadel have been friendly, but you are speaking to me as if we have known each other for years.”
Jex blinked slowly. “I know that our talents are complementary, I find you attractive, I have felt that you find me attractive, and so, I was attempting to rush through the initial stages of contact before we arrive at our destination.”
“Why?”
“Because we are going deep underground and your life will depend on me and mine on you. If you were a Guardsman, we would have trained at the base, but you aren’t, so we didn’t.”
She blinked. “No, I meant why do you find me attractive?”
His surprised grin made her blush. “You radiate with psychic energy, but it is completely contained. You glow in my sight.”
“Oh. Thanks for the explanation.”
“It is my pleasure. Each species has different keys that tell them when they have found the perfect mate. For the K’taff, we look for brightness. You are a solar blaze.”
He turned back to the controls, and she noted the fine braids that were nearly invisible against the pale waves of his elbow-length hair. His smoke-grey skin was smooth, and the tremendous width of his shoulders made her stomach flip. With him staring at the controls, she was able to take him in and watch his long, elegant fingers as he worked at the instrument panel.
“Berron is your family name?”
She could see his lips quirk in a smile as he put in the Selloki 5 coordinates.
“It is.”
“Do they like that you have joined the Sector Guard?”
He glanced at her in surprise. “Of course. It was a matter of pride to have a talent in the family.”
“Oh. Are you the only one?”
“I am. How many talents were there in your family?”
She shrugged. “Everybody has one. The entire population. No surprises there.”
“If everyone has a talent, why were you made a Backer?”
Aymin wrinkled her nose and looked at the view screen. “I don’t know. We used to think that it was because we were psychic talents, but there are a few with visual skills, so that can’t be it. We were chosen. That is all we know.”
“Were there more of you?”
“Yes, but many committed suicide. Having your talent cut off from you and held just out of reach drove nearly a dozen of us to despair. Since we weren’t in communication until we became adults, there was no way to form friendships or support systems.”
“How did you get through it?”
“My family. They protected me, guarded me on my way home from school, when folks would attack and kept me safe and sound. If they hadn’t had me expunged from their minds, I would probably have fought to remain with them, but I was safer away from them if they thought I was a stranger.”
“Why?”
“My family has talents that could be considered deadly, and I would not want to meet my end at their hands
. If they ever shook off the programming, they would not forgive themselves.”
“Right. Well, the K’taff are untalented as a rule, but more have been coming to light, and the families of the talents are given additional reproductive rights that will hopefully increase the chances of more power. It is a random way to climb the social rankings.”
“That is interesting. What does your family do?”
“We tend to work in medicine and law. I was slated to join the courts, but as a teen, I began to move through solid objects, and so, my destiny’s course was made clear.”
“Did you go into training immediately?”
“I did. My talent was considered potentially dangerous if I couldn’t hold my intangibility, so the government petitioned the Alliance and I was sent to a Citadel school. With other boys, I learned how to use my talents and I gained control over my body.”
“They had a school?”
“The Citadel has several schools. I became a specialist, and when the opportunity presented itself on Balen, I became a Guardsman.”
She nodded. “It sounds like logical fun. I wish that a school had been available for us, but I am guessing that it wasn’t the plan.”
“From what you have said and what I have heard, you were never meant to get control over your talent. How did you?”
She chuckled and told him about Grandma Kiba and the pain healing in the small, soundproofed office.
He asked questions, she answered them, and it wasn’t until she heard a sound that didn’t belong to either of them.
The grunting chirp struggled out as a Yaluthu waddled up to her and he hopped up and down until she reached out for him.
“Jex, is he yours?”
Jex frowned and then laughed when he saw the smoke-grey Yaluthu with the white tufts of fluff on its head. “I can see how you would think so, but no. He came to you, so you are the one he wants.”
A look into the wide, deep violet eyes of her stalker made her sigh. “Fine. Yes. You can stay with us. It isn’t like we can turn around. But you can’t be picky about your food. I am pretty sure we don’t have seeds for you.”
Jex cleared his throat. “Actually, out of Balen, Yaluthu food is in the dispenser.”
Stalker bounced on her lap.
“Come on, Stalker. We will get you something to eat.”
Jex laughed. “You named him Stalker?”
She shrugged, got up and walked out with the creature that was humming softly in her mind.
Stalker didn’t care about his name, he was getting a meal and she was holding him. After pursuing her for five weeks, he had been the Yaluthu to win her.
Aymin rolled her eyes at his self-satisfaction. The little jerk was impressed with himself.
“Look, Stalker, you and I are not a team. You are going to have to remain on the shuttle while I go to work.”
She held the small cup of seeds and nuts for him while he nibbled and made happy expressions in his thoughts.
While he was nibbling, she scooted her chair over and got a cup of water for each of them, creeping to the table with short motions that had Stalker rocking in her lap.
A little water spilled, but she managed to settle them at the table again and offered her buddy his water.
She didn’t want a Yaluthu, but Stalker didn’t care. He was making space for himself in her mind and settling in.
She stroked his fluffy head and mulled over the strange calm that came with their connection. Jex would have been a better match for him. They looked like a matched set.
When Stalker was nodding in full satisfaction, Aymin cradled him and took him to the bunk she had been assigned. She tucked him into her bed and stroked his fluff.
Damn. She didn’t want him, but she already was getting attached.
“Is he sleeping?”
She whirled and lunged up against Jex, pressing her fingers to his lips. “Shh. He just got to sleep.”
Jex smiled slowly against her fingers, and she realized she had plastered herself to his body in order to reach his lips.
Suddenly, she wanted to press further against him, and she winced that she was getting attached on this side as well.
She was so screwed.
Sighing, she pulled her fingers away and pushed him out of the bunkroom and into the hall. When the door was closed, she asked, “Did you want something?”
“Can’t you tell?”
Aymin frowned. “I wasn’t paying attention. Was there something there?”
“Ouch. Well, we are on our way down to the surface. We’ll land in four hours. From there, it will take two hours to get to the mines. They have strict airspace protocols.”
“Fine. Do you need me to do anything?”
“No, I was just missing the sound of your voice.”
She snorted. “Right. Well, shall we adjourn to the command deck?”
“Of course. How do you think he got on board?”
“I will ask him when he wakes up. He has been trying to ambush me for a while. He is smug that he achieved his goal.”
“I would be as well if I could find my way into your bed.”
Her eyes went wide. “That was a little forward.”
“I am using the time that we have. Who knows when we will be paired up again. I wish to give you food for thought.”
She didn’t say that he had accomplished his mission, but she was sure that he could read it in her body language.
She stalked back to the command deck and settled into her seat. Growing in the view screen was a world made of light and shadow. “Is that our destination?”
“It is. The Selloki colonized this world a century ago, and they have been enjoying the riches that the soil produces. They mine some of the most powerful data-suitable crystals here.”
“And it is in one of the mines that the spirits have been sighted.”
“Yes. I saw them, but they would not communicate with me. I am hoping that you have better luck.”
“Do you have a recording?”
“No. Electronics are not fond of passing through solid matter.”
“Wait. Are you going to pull me through rock?”
“Of course. How did you think we would get to our destination?”
Aymin glared at him. “For some reason, I thought we would just take a lift down to the area and I would do my thing from there.”
“No, the spirits are coming out of a central area and messing with the equipment before they retreat again. I am taking you to the centre of the concentration of energy.”
She blinked. “Right. I think I am going to need to eat first.”
He nodded. “I am guessing that you simply fed Stalker.”
“Correct. I had some water, but I didn’t know I needed to fortify myself.”
“We shall both have a meal. The Selloki have our shuttle now, and there is nothing to be done until they guide us all the way down.”
“You aren’t in control?”
“No. Their systems have us. We will be fine. The shuttle has failsafes if we get too close to a collision with the ground.”
“You mean a crash.”
He grinned. “Apparently, you are a pessimist.”
“Pragmatist. I like to be aware of possible consequences and then prepare accordingly.”
“I stand corrected; now, shall we grab a meal?”
She smiled tightly and got to her feet. She was going to have to pick her battles. Choosing to strengthen herself for an unknown situation was on her to-do list. With a self-enforced calm, she followed him to the galley, wondering what life on the new world was going to look like.
Chapter Seven
Storms were everywhere. The shuttle rocked from side to side as they were guided in on final approach to the tarmac.
Stalker was perched in her lap as they pitched and twisted in the windblasts with the lightning striking around them. His stubby claws were tight on the fabric of her combat-rated suit, and he stuck to her thighs. He was broadcasting calm to her, but s
he could feel his own upset. She stroked his back and ran her fingers under his wings.
Jex glanced at her. “How are you doing?”
“I have to distract Stalker, so it is distracting me.” As she spoke, the air around them stilled, and they glided to the ground without so much as a dip.
Aymin frowned. “What was that?”
“The Selloki 5 landing buffer. It is a cushion of air and energy that is lowering us into our parking position.”
As she watched, they skimmed along the ground and up to a gate with an umbilical that extended to their shuttle.
She blinked. “Is that it?”
“That is it. The storms move in waves across the surface and act as their security protocol. Coming from Balen, we have our health clearances, and Yaluthu are allowed on any world that we travel to.”
“Really?”
“Of course. This is a stressful occupation. Having a symbiotic therapy companion is perfectly within our rights.” His lips twitched.
“I thought that was why you were here.” She gave him a smug smile and unbuckled her harness.
“Well, it seems you have gotten over your nerves.”
“You should have a Yaluthu; they are very good for the temperament.” She cuddled with Stalker and gave Jex another smirk.
He grimaced and muttered, “I will get our bag. Meet me at the hatch.”
She fought the laughter that bubbled up. It was Stalker. He was sending her excitement and exhilaration. “Knock it off or you will be walking, fluff butt.”
The euphoria faded, and Aymin stalked through the ship to the hatch where the umbilical was sealed to it. Getting used to having a Yaluthu was going to take some work.
By the time they were transported to the mine site via underground rail, she was under control and she had stopped staring at the small representative of the Selloki. The four arms were a little surprising, but the thick lower two limbs remained folded across his chest.
Yashgat was a highly trained representative of the mine that had given them the whole history of the Imatti settlement and the miners who lived there.
Aymin had to trust that Wraith’s translation was accurate. The Selloki language wasn’t one that was in her lexicon.