by K. Aten
“It’s not Psierian.” Olivienne finished Spc. Yazzie’s sentence then cast a quick glance at Tosh. This was not at all what they intended to find.
Qent pointed a slightly shaking finger into the drawer, near a pile of ash in the general location of the chest cavity. “What’s that?”
The other four noticed the metallic shine as he pointed it out but rather than just reach right in for it, Olivienne grabbed the stylus from her pouch and carefully lifted the pendant out. It looked identical to the first one found on Mater Island, except it had a green stone instead of a blue one. “Interesting.” She pulled a rag out of her waist pouch and cleaned off the pendant, then strung it on the cord with the first one. They made a dull clanking sound when they swung together.
Castellan abruptly stepped back from the drawer and ran a hand through her neatly ordered hair, effectively sending the fine strands into disarray. “Sheddech!”
Spc. Qent looked at her with concern. “Commander?”
Castellan leveled a look at the entire group in the cave. “This discovery is top secret, no one is to speak of the additional find, not even to the rest of the team. Absolutely no one beyond this chamber, Savvy?” The three specialists all looked slightly frightened at the tone in her voice but they gave their assent quickly enough.
“What’s wrong, Tosh?” Olivienne moved away as well and placed a hand on Castellan’s tense forearm. “I know this isn’t what we expected to find but you have to admit that the nature of this is fascinating...” Her voice trailed off when she saw that Tosh’s gaze had gone distant as she assumed a thinking stance.
The commander didn’t respond for a few secs then she sighed and pulled the voteo from her belt. “We weren’t expecting this at all but we can’t leave it here. I’m going to see if the dirigible has some sort of airtight container they can send down, one that will hold whatever is in that drawer.”
Olivienne watched as Yazzie, Dozier, and Qent stood near the drawer talking to each other, gesturing toward the bones every so often. She switched to telepathy. “Castellan, this is a huge discovery. No one has ever found anything like this, or any reference at all as to whom the Makers were. We are the first, isn’t it exciting?”
Two small lines creased the skin between Tosh’s eyebrows. “When you look at it that way, I suppose it is. But I find it more disconcerting than anything. The Makers are clearly nothing like us, which raises more questions than we had before. Who are they? More importantly, who are we?”
The sovereign realized exactly what the commander was trying to say and suddenly, as the future leader of her people, she found herself with the same concerns. It didn’t take Cmdr. Tosh long to message the dirigible and arrange for a large sealable container to be sent down. She sent Qent off at a sprint to fetch it from the cave mouth. Inside they found that the dirigible crew had provided clean cloths per Yazzie’s request and she pulled some medican gloves from her kit. She was the one who volunteered to get the skeletal remains stowed away in the sealed bin. They were halfway back to the cave entrance when Tosh’s voteo crackled to life. “Madlin to Tosh, we’re under fire! Over.”
Castellan, who was the one carrying the surprisingly lightweight bin, turned to the group and shouted. “Double-time!” They took off running and when they reached the cave mouth, they could clearly see another dirigible coming in over the ocean. The black air bladder of the ship grew closer by the sec as it came in across the shimmering blue water below. “Jump, I’ll lift us!” It was both a testament to the faith the entire team had in Tosh as well as proof of her immense power. As soon as they were outside the cave, she snatched them up in a massive show of concentration and strength and pushed her levitation channel to its limits in order to quickly lift them to the top of the cliff. She staggered as she landed, nearly dropping the bin. Levitation was hard enough at one’s limit, but to lift five people in the air on top of being so high up was incredibly taxing.
Seeing her dilemma, Olivienne grabbed the bin and pushed it into Qent’s hands. “Here, get this stowed aboard the ship!” She touched Castellan’s shoulder but the officer had already recovered from her stumble.
“Get the rest of those rail guns set up and keep firing!” Cmdr. Tosh turned back to Olivienne as the enemy dirigible continued to approach. “What’s your range for your pyrokinesis?” She didn’t even flinch when a shell ricocheted off the rock not more than two foot away from where they stood. Nor did she acknowledge when their own moored dirigible began returning fire. However, Olivienne remained frozen as she watched the ominous ship approach so Tosh snapped her fingers in front of her face. “’Vienne, range?”
The sovereign jerked her head around to meet the fearless pale blue gaze. Drawing on Tosh’s solidity amidst the chaos, Olivienne answered with narrowed eyes. “I can certainly hit that blasted ship!”
Lt. Madlin called out from where the rest of the unit was lined up on the cliff face, firing on the approaching dirigible. “Commander! Our shells aren’t penetrating the bladder, it must be one of the new ones made from kevlan.”
“Aim for the gondola then, Lieutenant! All of you, aim for the gondola.” Unfortunately that was easier said than done. The gondola was a small target in comparison and Tosh assumed that would be armored as well. She turned back to Olivienne and grimaced. “It’s all on you. Fire it up, Connate Dracore.”
Olivienne shut her eyes to focus her channel then opened them again to see what she wanted to burn. Suddenly the entire side of the black kevlan bladder lit up with flickering flames, visible even in the light of the twin suns. Just as quickly, the flames flickered and died. She turned to Tosh with a frown. “There is nothing there to burn. The kevlan is inflammable!”
“Focus on the lines again, be more precise and concentrate your channel on those small areas. We need to separate that gondola from the bladder or things will go poorly for us in a few more meens!” A yell split the air as one of the ship’s crew members cried out and fell back clutching his thigh. Immediately after that, Spc. Soleng took a hit to his upper arm.
Cmdr. Tosh stood in front of the Connate to shield her body and pulled the spyglass from her waist pouch. She observed the approaching airship, hoping beyond hope that Olivienne would be successful. With a cry of relief, she watched as one line glowed and snapped, then three more lines followed suit. “That’s it, keep going!” The abrupt tilt of the gondola precipitated a cease-fire on the pirate’s side, but the Shield Corp unit never stopped. Two more lines snapped and the gondola tilted so precariously that she watched the shape of three bodies falling toward the water. “Good, ya bastards!”
Even as she said it, Castellan saw another body fall and with the greatest focus she could muster, she grabbed the person with her telekinesis. At that distance, the strain was nearly unbearable but she quickly lifted the body over the line of fire and set him down on the cliff about five yords in the opposite direction as the ocean. Just as Tosh released him, a triumphant cry went through the combined forces of both Shield Corp guardians and the ship’s crew. As she turned around, she caught a glimpse of the foreign dirigible as the gondola broke free and crashed into the waves below. She also grabbed Olivienne as the Connate sagged and nearly fell to the ground. The exhausting pyrokinetic display had clearly taken a lot out of her. Once she had Olivienne settled, Tosh spun around to deal with their pirate only to find him drawing his pistol and aiming at the woman at her side.
“Oh no you don’t!” With the remaining bit of her nearly exhausted reserve, Tosh mentally stripped the man of his gun and charged him. He scrambled backward but Castellan caught him secs later. Then with both fists holding the front of his shirt, she lifted him off his feet and slammed him backward into the ground. He lost consciousness as soon as his head made contact with the rocky cliff surface. Energized by the encounter, she began calling out to the unit. “Madlin, status report, Holling, check on Connate Dracore.” She paused and caught two guardians at loose ends. “Leggett and Calderon, get this shell sucker tie
d up and stowed on board! Move people, I want off this Maker-forsaken cliff yesterdae, we don’t know if they have more than one ship!”
“Are you all right?” Olivienne stood at Tosh’s left side as she called out orders.
The commander grimaced. “I’m fine, just drained. You?”
Olivienne tucked a loose dark tendril of hair around her ear and raised her arm with a wince. “I caught a graze from one of the shells, more of a burn really. I think I strained my channel with the distance on that dirigible. I’ve got a headache that would drop a roc.”
Tosh smiled at her tenderly. “Show off.” She was about to say more when she was interrupted by the captain of the dirigible.
“Commander, I’ve got everyone aboard and all the wounded have been placed in the med room. Nothing critical, ser.” Captain Seema Velten saluted Tosh when she walked up, albeit begrudgingly. She was a tall woman with the whitest blonde hair that Castellan had ever seen. She wore an armored jacket and black trousers with tall black boots. And not only did she carry a pistol on one hip, but also a sword on the other. Captain Velten was perhaps one of the most sternly serious people Tosh had ever met and from the tone of her voice she did not enjoy the fact that, despite titles, Cmdr. Tosh outranked her simply because she was a Shield Corp commander on active duty with a sovereign. However, if one could ignore the slight attitude, Velten was an excellent ship’s captain.
“Thank you Captain Velten, we will board immediately then.” She glanced around one last time and noticed someone had pulled in all the ropes from the cliff anchors, and another of the ship’s crew stood by to release the anchor line for the dirigible. She shook her head and led the way back to the airship. Once they were aboard, she turned back to Capt. Velten. “Do you have someplace secure that we can keep our prisoner until we reach the Defense Corp office in Wahnish? It won’t do to leave him trussed up, the circulation would be cut off and therefore dishonorable to keep him in such a state. Also, did the ship hail you at all before the attack?”
Before the captain could respond, the dirigible gave a jerk as it was released from the mooring point and they all felt when it began to rise. “They did hail us, Commander. I was told that if we gave up the Connate, we would be free to leave unmolested. I could see that it was one of the new kevlan ships out of the shipyard in Soflin, but I would be derelict in my sovereign duty as a Psierian if I let any harm come to Connate Dracore! We had no choice but to fight, and how.” She turned an appreciative eye toward Olivienne. “Well done by the way, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a display of power quite like that before.”
Olivienne inclined her head. “Thank you, Captain, but I only did what I had to do. Everyone knows that the royals have high rated channels. It would be a crime not to use it when people’s lives were at stake.”
Capt. Velten bowed to her. “Just as it would be a crime not to have evening meal with me tonight.”
The good captain could not see Tosh’s face, which had darkened like a thundercloud behind her. However Olivienne was a witness to the reaction and her violet eyes crinkled with humor. “Actually Captain, Commander Tosh and I would love to take dinner with you this evening. I was impressed with both the size of your ship and the capability of your crew and I’d like to talk to you about another mission coming up later this roto.”
“Oh.” A quick glance over her shoulder showed a fully composed Tosh and the captain was thrown off at Olivienne’s subtle rebuff. “I would be happy to host you both at my table this evening. We can speak more of your proposed trip then. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to attend the bridge.”
As soon as she was out of earshot, Olivienne began laughing. “Your face! No gems or precious metals could buy such an equally gobsmacked and angry look as that!”
Castellan ignored the jibe. “Are you sure we can trust her? I’m assuming you’re inquiring to see if she’d be a good fit to take us to wherever the third temple is located. It must be far off if the adventurists haven’t found it yet. But Velten...” She grimaced with distaste.
Olivienne put a reassuring hand on Tosh’s forearm. “Such a face, but have no fears with the captain. She had a chance to turn us over to a superior ship and did not. I’ll accept that loyalty and reward it with a contract if I can. And as for anything else, you have nothing to fear there either, my love. You and I belong together and that is a fact, no dashing captain or shell-sucker can take that away.” She snickered then as she repeated Castellan’s phrase from the top of the cliff and Tosh blushed.
“I was angry.”
“Clearly. I must say though, your display of that physical anger was more than stimulating. Perhaps you can show me some offensive moves later in my cabin?”
Tosh smirked. “I guarantee that nothing I do later will be offensive. As a matter of fact, I quite think you’ll like it.”
Olivienne playfully ran her tongue along her bottom lip then bit the lip for good measure. “I’m sure I will.”
The move caused Castellan to groan quietly and wrench her eyes away. “You torture me, ’Vienne. Come, we must check on the unit. Some were injured and while none were serious, I still want to be sure of their health for it will be another long trip back to Tesseron.”
Olivienne sighed but didn’t dispute Tosh’s words. Instead they left the vestibule of the ship together and made their way to the med room.
IT WAS NEAR twenty-two hundred oors when the airship arrived back at Wahnish. At dinner Captain Velten had warmed considerably to both the Connate and the commander. Perhaps it was Castellan’s demeanor, but Seema Velten no longer displayed any blatant interest in dallying with Olivienne. She also thanked the Connate for the opportunity to join them on their future adventurist mission and suggested that when Olivienne had a set date she should send a missive. Velten also cautioned she’d need at least two weke’s notice to restock and make it north to Dromea. When the meal was complete, Tosh thanked her for the service she had performed and even authorized a bonus as payment for the captain and crew taking fire.
Once all the gear and injured had been unloaded, the dirigible left toward the southeast, back in the direction of its home port of Cordeesh. Both Lt. Savon and Spc. Soleng were taken to the local medican center while the rest went back to make camp behind the Security Corp office again. The doctore that was on duty said both men should be fine to make the long trip down the jungle road the next dae but she’d send some anesthetics and infection blockers with them until they could get to another treatment center.
The bin of bones had already been stowed and locked away in Olivienne and Tosh’s hauler. They had a prisoner who was cooling his heels in the Security Corp lockup, a prisoner that hopefully would give them clues as to who had been sending the assassins after the Connate. While the pirate hadn’t spoken yet, Castellan had no doubt that General Renou’s team would be able to get something out of the man.
The one other bright spot was that after contacting Renou, the general decided to send an investigation team down to Dromea so that Tosh wouldn’t have to bring the man north with them. Cmdr. Tosh was glad of a mission fairly well done, even if it was a bit chaotic and they discovered a lot more than they bargained for. With so much uncertain and the sands of knowledge shifting below their feet, it was nice to count on the bright spots when they appeared.
Chapter Twenty-two
BOTH LT. SAVON and Spc. Soleng had their arms in slings for the journey back to Vesper. They had originally planned to leave around five hundred but the doctore wasn’t scheduled to arrive back at the med center until six hundred and he was the one who needed to sign releases on the two guardians. Olivienne also had her minor arm wound seen to before they left. Castellan contacted the Security Corp office in Wahnish the night before, while they were flying back from Navis on the dirigible, so the district commander could make sure the railer departing from Ostium the following morning would be prepared for the Connate’s team. They would need a secure VIP segment as well as flat segments enough for their th
ree haulers when they made a special stop in Vesper.
While the trip down the jungle road was eleven and half oors heading out to the coast, the later departure from Wahnish made timing a concern. The railer was scheduled to stop in the tiny river town a few meens before seventeen hundred so on Tosh’s direction, they pushed their speed up to sixty mahls per oor and made it there in ten oors.
There was no fanfare upon their arrival, just efficient action. It took almost twenty meens to load the haulers and get the rest of the team and their gear on board. Olivienne didn’t want the sealed bin with its strange skeletal contents in their cabin so Tosh ascertained that the next safest place would be to lock it in the armored hauler where most couldn’t reach it on a moving railer. But just to be sure, she set up a guardian rotation for each stop on their way north.
With so much on their minds, neither woman felt like dallying on the trip back to Tesseron. Cmdr. Tosh had an abundance of reports to write pertaining to their mission, reports that included write-ups for the prisoner, the skeletal remains, and the injuries sustained by all the team members. The medican report even included the minor injury that was taken by the Connate herself. It was just past nineteen hundred oors local time the next evening when the railer arrived at the Tesseron station. Castellan had sent an encrypted voteo missive ahead to General Renou and the leader of the Psi Shield Corp was waiting on Tosh when she arrived. A significant look passed between Castellan and Olivienne. “I wish I could go back with you, but between the prisoner and the skeleton we found, Renou is insisting on an official debriefing. I’ll head back to the residence as soon as I’m able.”
“I’m probably just going to bathe and go right to bed, I’m exhausted and my arm is tender. Wake me when you come in?” Castellan nodded and the Connate climbed into one of the unloaded haulers to go back to the residence with the rest of the unit. The bin of bones had been placed in the storage compartment of the general’s private moto so Tosh loaded herself as well.