by K. Aten
Before she could ask another question, General Renou’s attention was pulled back to the teleo. “Right away. Yes, as soon as possible. Can you get away? That would be perfect. Meet me down in the lobby in half an oor and I’ll turn you over to our testers. And I’m not going to tell them we’re related so you better sweat if you expect to pass our evaluations!” When she disconnected the line, she glanced over to where Tosh gave her a curious look. She knew what it was about. “I don’t believe in nepotism. Psi Shield Corp has a reputation of excellence and I will not sully that for anyone. She will either pass and you’re set or she won’t and we’ll have to search elsewhere.”
Even after being invited to join and requested by the Queen herself, Tosh still had to go through the grueling Shield Corp tests. She also knew that the general’s niece would be with the testers for the rest of the dae so it was unlikely she’d hear anything before the next morning. “Thank you for your help, General. Now with your permission I’d like to write up the unit request for Specialist Lazaro, and the transfer request for Specialist Lear. Then after that I think I’ll go speak with Connate Dracore and brief her as to where we stand on her team. I think she will be pleasantly surprised by the group of talents I’ve put together. Well, I hope.”
Well aware of the difficulty that was Connate Dracore, Renou chuckled. “Good luck with that.” She abruptly stood and straightened her pin-neat black uniform. “Well, I shall leave you to it then. Good dae, Commander Tosh!”
“Good dae, General!” Tosh saluted her one last time before the older woman exited the office. Then Castellan sat back in her chair and sighed. She wasn’t looking forward to speaking with Olivienne, mostly because the Connate had become...testy since going on unofficial holidae. But Tosh couldn’t really blame her since she herself was going a bit stir crazy after spending a weke with her nose buried in tedious reports and files. There was a lot to learn and accomplish in her new role and she hoped that she wouldn’t let anyone down along the way. Especially the sovereigns.
Chapter Twelve
IT WAS STRANGE spending time at the Shield Corp headquarters after serving her entire career stationed outside the capital on one stint or another. It was stranger yet coming and going in the middle of the dae because the place seemed oddly empty. Most that were assigned duty there spent their daes in office work, something that would have driven Castellan mad. Before she could exit the side door of the massive building, the guardian attending the entrance saluted and called out to her. “Ser! Are you Commander Castellan Tosh?”
She looked at the woman curiously. “Yes, that’s me.”
Taking a rigid stance, the woman spoke clearly and concisely. “Ser, General Renou asked me to tell you that your vectura voucher came through. She said if you go to the moto yard, you can pick out something to use for the duration of your assignment.”
Tosh blinked in surprise. “Oh.”
“Ser?”
Shaking free from her shock, she waved a hand at the woman. “It’s nothing. I simply wasn’t expecting that particular perk of rank. But I suppose it makes sense. On base we’d have a base moto for the officers, but I didn’t think about what I would use in Tesseron as a Shield unit leader.”
The private looked so earnest. “Ser, if I may suggest?”
Castellan nodded. “Go ahead, Private.”
“Ser, my coz’n, Gar Soleng, is on your team and I’ve heard plenty of stories. Pardon my saying but if you’re going to lead Connate Dracore’s team, you best pick something fast.”
The senior officer smirked back at her. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.”
The moto yard was in a centralized location where it could be easily accessed by members of both Psi Defense Corp and Psi Shield Corp. Tosh showed her ID to the two privates who were guarding the gate. One checked the slate on his desk, running his finger down the names until he found hers. “Says you’re cleared for moto or cycle...oh! Looks like you’ve got lot six.” He looked back up at her, uncertain. “I’m sorry, ser, but anything higher than lot four and I have to call my sergeant in.”
The private removed the voteo from his belt and stepped away from the door to verify her clearance. Castellan looked at the other guardian with some concern. “Lot six? Is that good or bad?”
“You’re Shield, ser, direct service to Connate Dracore. Lot six means you get your pick of the best.”
The Sergeant arrived exactly two meens later and saluted Cmdr. Tosh exactly the way the privates had done when she walked up. “Commander Tosh, good to meet you, ser! I’m Sergeant Demmon. If you’ll follow me I’ll take you to lot six myself. You need a special key to access that section.”
“I see.” If there was one thing Castellan had learned in the previous weke, beyond the boredom of looking at stacks of files, it was that her new commission seemed to be full of surprises. It didn’t take long for Tosh to find herself walking through rows of all different types of motos. Two doors, four doors, all-wheel power, their design and makeup varied but all were armored and weaponized. She didn’t need anything so large and cumbersome within Tesseron so she moved on to the cycles. Her eyes widened at the selection and for a sec she thought maybe she was in love. Castellan turned to Sgt. Demmon, who paced her progress though the rows. “Which one is fastest?”
The man smiled. “Follow me.” He weaved them through the rows until they came to a section in the farthest corner. “These five were all built based on the prototype schematics Connate Dracore brought back a few lunes ago.”
“You mean the prototype that nearly got her previous captain killed? Are you trying to tell me something, sergeant?”
He looked at her confused. “No, ser!”
She waved him off to indicate she was kidding then stepped closer to one particular cycle that caught her eye. It gleamed with a warm burnished copere color, like the sunset over the Solis Sea. She ran her hands along the gauges and dials, inspecting every single toggle and switch before finally swinging a leg over the saddle. The illeostone tank sat directly in front of the saddle but just behind the steerage bar. Tosh glanced toward the sergeant and with a nod he gave her permission to switch the cycle on. It barely made any sound, with just a quiet rumble and the occasional hiss as built up aether released into the air. “This is the one I want.” The cycle was a gorgeous balance of speed and engineering.
“That shouldn’t be a problem. If you can just sign this sheet we’ll get you set up with a helmet.” Within five meens she had filled out the proper document and selected a helmet from the nearby storage unit. The helmet was the same shade of copere as the bike and featured a darkened face shield that could be switched for a clear one at night. The bike had a panier on each side in back, as well as storage beneath the seat. “The seat is made to hold a spare helmet. I recommend you pick one now while the stock is full.”
After grabbing a matching helmet from the cabinet, the sergeant showed her how to lock it into the seat bin. “What about gloves or other gear?”
“I’m sorry, ser, but supply doesn’t provide that. However, Tesseron has a number of top notch cycle shoppes and I’m sure you can find what you need there.” After that Castellan remounted the machine and waited impatiently as he walked her through the extra features on the specialty Shield Corp cycle. “There is a rail gun on the front, mounted to each side of the headlamp. There is also a beacon that will transmit in times of emergency. You can manually turn it on, or it will turn on automatically if the cycle suffers catastrophic gyro damage.”
Cmdr. Tosh nodded. “That makes sense since the majority of my time will be spent with Connate Dracore. What else?”
He shrugged. “There’s not much more to know. It has light armor and built in stabilizers that help with control at top speed. Oh, and top speed is one hundred and fifty mahls per oor.”
“Bollux! You’re putting me on, man!”
The sergeant shook his head and tapped the speed gauge. “No, ser. I advise caution whenever crossing the one hundred mahl pe
r oor threshold.”
“I should think so! Have no fear, Sergeant, I have full confidence in my ability to ride at high speeds. Even ones this beast can provide.”
“Ah, I assumed you’d be a high rating since you’re the only commander that’s ever taken over a sovereign-assigned Shield unit. Telekinetic?”
“Yes, at a six. I’m also six with intuition and five levitation. I should be fine, sergeant.”
A look of shock washed over his face. “How is it you have three high rated channels?”
She sniffed at his awe and tapped her head. “I have five high rated channels. Telepathy and ferrokinesis are in here as well.”
“I’m starting to believe the stories about you that have made it north, ser!”
“Pox on those stories. You’d think military would have more to do than gossip!”
“You know how it is, ser.”
“I certainly do. All right, Sergeant. Thank for getting me set up here, now I’m afraid I must be on my way. Good dae to you.”
The man stepped away from the cycle and gave her a final salute. “Good dae to you too, ser! And good luck.” His last few words were lost to her as she rode away.
Castellan made quick time going back through the city toward the Temple of Archeos. She loved the ride of her new cycle and the freedom of the wind tugging at her uniform. As she crossed the great river, Mir Tessere, she could see the temple in the distance. The pyramid shone brightly in the light of the two suns. Tosh thought about what she still needed to do with the rest of her dae.
She needed to speak with Olivienne and the temple was the last place her unit had checked in. With the exception of the three people she had spoken with General Renou about, the rest of the team was in place. She had the original members of the unit paired up with the new ones to better assimilate them into the team. Tosh was no stranger to how things worked within the fighting corps and she trusted those original six to instruct the new people on all the Connate’s quirks and foibles.
Castellan had met with all the new specialists individually before bringing them on board because despite how good someone looked on vellum, it was hard to tell what kind of fit a person would be until you met them face-to-face. She was planning an all-hands meeting once the remaining members were official so she could go over their slightly different duties from a normal Shield unit.
Unused to daes of idle time, Olivienne had taken to spending her holidae at the Temple of Archeos. Since the secret of the lost temple was a privilege held by only a few, she had been assisting the two interpretists that had been given security clearance on the project. There were hundreds of untranslated documents in the temple archives and the Connate knew that if she were going to discover the location of Antaeus, they’d have to be decoded. It was also convenient to spend her daes in temple since it was so heavily guarded, it made it easier on her new and still understaffed Shield unit.
Before she left her office, Cmdr. Tosh had contacted Lt. Savon via the voteo she had clipped to her belt so she could confirm the exact location of the Connate. The temple was a massive place and a person could get lost for daes in the lower levels if they didn’t know their way around. He said he would message her if the Connate moved to a different room, or left the temple all together. Unfortunately for Gentry Savon, Tosh was already on her way to the temple when Connate Dracore decided she was done for the dae.
“That’s it!” Two of the guardians and one interpretist startled at the outburst though Savon wasn’t one of them. He had been expecting her to break for daes.
“Is there something I can do for you, Connate Dracore?” The other interpretist, an older woman named Cadentia, was both calm and thorough in her duty. There was nothing, shy of stripping nude and singing the newest operae, that would startle her.
Anticipating the sovereign’s words, Lt. Savon alerted his commander’s voteo to let her know he had a message. Meanwhile the Connate stood from the desk she had been working at, stretched, and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “No, I’m just tired of being deep in the bowels of the temple each dae. I’m going stir crazy!” She glanced at the other two interpretists, realizing that it was their job to be there dae in and dae out. “Oh, I mean...it’s fine if you like it and you’re used to it but I’d much rather be outside.”
Both interpretists smiled but it was Cadentia that answered. “It’s fine. We know exactly what you mean and both of us love this work. Though I suppose if we didn’t, we would not be in this department of the Divinity Corp.” Before Olivienne could apologize again, the older interpretist grabbed a stack of translated documents from her desk and walked them over to the Connate. “If you’re leaving, you may as well take what we have completed so far. I think it was a good idea to start with the oldest dated documents first. Maybe you can piece together more of the story from these.”
Olivienne took the vellum sheets from her before walking over and grabbing both her own translations and those of the other interpretist, Lyndee. Then she bundled them all together and put them in a pack that she had brought with her to the temple. “That is a great idea. Perhaps I’ll go find someplace in the suns’ shine to begin my notes. Have a good dae, pseras. And good luck!” With that she shouldered her pack and made her way toward the door, only to be stopped by Lt. Savon. She looked up at him partly in curiosity, part in irritation. “Yes?”
“Begging your pardon, Connate Dracore, but Commander Tosh is expecting you to be in the secured interpretist room when she arrives.”
“So tell her I’m heading back to my home.”
He tried again. “But she is already on her way here, I have no way of contacting her before she arrives.”
Olivienne smiled sweetly at the worried man. “Well then, we better hope she arrives before I leave.” With those words she walked out of the room. The Connate had been frustrated by Castellan Tosh since the moment of their first meeting. Despite that fact, Olivienne still found the woman attractive and engaging and a sure lure for the sovereign who loved adventure. But since Tosh had become her Shield unit leader, the officer had sadly made herself off limits. While Olivienne received competence and professionalism from the commander in abundance, she found no forgiveness for her actions leading up to the assassination attempt.
It didn’t help that flashes of their shared passion together still found their way into her dreams. And there were those occasional moments when the Connate wished she were back in her cabin on the railer, before the ill-fated trip into Penterole. As Olivienne made her way out of the temple nearly twenty meens later, she once again thought back to that time. The passion between them had been explosive and so very memorable.
Before she could trip further down memory lane, her attention was caught by a flash of copere and stele and the breath stuttered in her throat. Olivienne stared intently as Commander Tosh rode into the parking area on her cycle and dismounted from the gleaming machine. Her voice was a whisper when it finally escaped. “Why does she have to make it so hard?”
Lt. Madlin, the new counterpart to Savon, looked at her knowingly. “Did you need something, Connate Dracore?”
Olivienne shook her head and smiled wistfully. “No, just wishful thinking.” She looked around then, noticing her surroundings for the first time. “Do we not have a moto for transport yet?”
Lt. Savon shook his head. “No, Connate. We thought you’d be here a whole dae again and it was scheduled for service. I’ve called for another but it will take a bit for a secured one to be inspected and sent over. My apologies.”
“Are you going somewhere, Connate Dracore?” As soon as she rode up, Tosh noticed the on-duty team of Shield guardians milling around outside the Temple of Archeos, along with one sovereign. She glanced over at Lt. Savon who had the grace to blush.
“I tried to contact you, ser, but you were already on your way.”
She waved him off. “Its fine, Lieutenant. No replacement moto yet?” She was aware that the Connate’s original transportation was due for service
and Castellan herself was the one who chose that dae for it to happen. She had no idea that the Connate would reach her breaking point of inside activity so soon. Though Castellan shouldn’t have been surprised considering her own breaking point had come and gone.
“No, ser, they said at least another half oor before inspection would be finished.”
Olivienne looked at the commander pleadingly. “Can’t we just take another back to residence? I really cannot stand being cooped up and pinned down any longer.”
As Tosh looked into those purple eyes, she recognized the same spark of restlessness that she knew to shine in her own. Finally she sighed and gave in to the urge that was pushing against the back of her mind. “I think I can do better than that.” She reached down and opened the seat of her cycle and pulled out the spare helmet, holding it out to the Connate. “I can provide you with a personal escort back to residence while they follow behind when the secured moto arrives.”
Olivienne’s face lit up but Lt. Savon’s features showed concern. “Are you sure, ser? That seems very...open.”
Castellan addressed her senior officer and his concerns. “I take my job seriously, Lieutenant. And you can trust me when I say nothing will touch us on this cycle. I would swallow my own sword if proved wrong.”
Lt. Savon winced at his commander’s declaration but he had seen the officer in action and trusted her to keep the Connate safe. “Yes, ser, we’ll follow as soon as the moto arrives.”
Realizing that Olivienne’s satchel probably contained secured translations, she opened the seat of her cycle again and nodded toward the compartment. “Connate Dracore, I have space for your pack if you wish to bring it with you.”
Olivienne quickly exchanged the pack over her shoulder for the helmet that Castellan held out. “Thank you. Is this one of the new cycles, from prototype?”
Tosh nodded. “It has been built according to the updated schematics you brought back, yes.” She stepped out of the way so that the Connate and the rest of her team could look at the cycle. “It has twin rail gun barrels mounted to each side of the lamp, as well as stabilizers to assist with safety when running at top speed of one-fifty.”