Cassandra's Challenge (21 page)

“I’ve never hidden mine.” He shoots back.

“Neither have I! It’s hardly my fault you’ve
never bothered to look!” Cassandra has had enough she’ll be damned
if she is going to have an argument in only a towel. Dropping it
she pulls on her shirt.

“It’s important Cassandra.” Going to his closet
William pulls on a pair of pants. “When did you first discover the
birthmark?” By this time Cassandra has her pants on and is working
on her socks.

“There is no ‘
when did you first discover the
birthmark
’ William.” She retorts giving him an exasperating
look. “I was “
born
” with it.
All
Qwes woman are
born
with it. It’s just a fact of life!” With her boots on
she stands.

“Tori doesn’t have one.” William yanks on a
shirt. He’d seen her legs in medical when she’d been poisoned, a
poison that had been meant for Cassandra.

“Of course she doesn’t! She’s not
Qwes
.”
Cassandra replies like he was a slow pupil.

“What do you mean she’s not Qwes, she’s your
niece!”

“She’s my
brother’s
daughter.” Cassandra
responds as if it were perfectly clear. William’s becoming worried
it is, but he needs to hear her say it.

“So?”

She takes a deep breath. “Qwes is the maternal
side of the family, the woman’s side. I don’t know what you call it
on Carina. I have the mark, my mother had the mark,
her
mother had the mark, and so on and so on. It only directly passes
from mother to daughter. A son’s daughter is not in the direct
line.”

“Your grandmother had this birthmark.” William
persisted.

“Yes!
” Cassandra suddenly realizes
William is in full Admiral mode as he approaches her, and for once
is a little intimidated.

“Sit down Cassandra, we need to talk.” He leads
her to the couch sitting her down.

“What is the big deal? It’s just a birthmark!”
She asks in exasperation.

“On Carina, birthmarks are a very ‘big deal’.
They denote lineage, which House you descend from, if you are in
line to rule one day.” William watches Cassandra closely to see if
any of this is familiar to her.

“The birthmark on my arm denotes that I am from
the House of Protection, the Arrow is our symbol. There is another
‘marker’ for descendants of the royal families, eye color. The
House of Protection’s is Violet.” Cassandra is avidly listening
trying to understand what William is telling her.

“So you and Lucas descend from the royal family
of the House of Protection. That seems fitting for who you
are.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to tell you. There
are four other Houses, each with their own symbols. One is the
House of Knowledge.” He pauses watching her closely. “Their
birthmark is a tower on the inside of the right calf, they have a
vast capacity to learn.” Cassandra’s eyes widen slightly, “The eye
color of the royal family is Sapphire Blue.” William can see
Cassandra’s mind racing.

“So you think that because of some birthmark and
eye color that I’m a descendant from some royal family on Carina.
That’s ridicules William.” Agitated she surges off the couch to
pace the room.

“The House of Protection is also called the Arm
of Carina.” Cassandra looks at him, waiting. “The House of
Knowledge is called the Light of Carina.” Immediately William sees
the stricken look come into her eyes.

“The Glitter Man told Tori she wouldn’t take his
light.” She whispers. William decides he needs to tell her about
the transmissions.

“Right after the destruction of Earth we
intercepted a Regulian transmission. It said ‘Imperial light still
shining. Believed being protected. Will continue search, if unable
to obtain will destroy. Agreement will then be honored.’ It was
sent somewhere deep within Carinian space. We haven’t been able to
pin point the location.”

Cassandra’s mind is racing, working through
everything. There had been a thread implanted in Victoria,
something they could track. Why hadn’t they just taken her when
they had her? Tori said the Glitter Man checked her hands and feet.
Looking for something, a birthmark, Tori didn’t have one. They were
trying to find the one with the birthmark. Her.

William watched as she assimilates all the
information, running theories, drawing conclusions. He knew by her
very stillness the minute she realized what it meant.

“They were looking for me.” She says
emotionlessly. “With Victoria, with the attack on Earth.”

“That’s what I believe.”

“When they finally found me, you were there. So
since they couldn’t obtain, they destroyed.” She continues, not
moving from where she stood.

“Yes.” He presses wanting her to understand.
“They want
you
Cassandra. They are willing to sacrifice
anyone and anything that gets in their way.”

“The way they did Earth.”

“Yes the way they did Earth.” Standing he moves
to take her in his arms. As he does she moves out of reach walking
towards the connecting door. With a deep sigh he follows expecting
to find her in his ready room. Entering all he finds is an open
hatch.

“Fuck!” Returning to his quarters he pulls on
his boots realizing he’s made a major miscalculation. In his need
to make her understand that
she
is in danger he hadn’t
considered how she would take knowing an entire planet had been
destroyed to get to her! Nearly her entire family!
Fuck
! He
knew her capacity for caring, for believing she should be able to
solve every problem. If he’d stopped thinking like an Admiral for
one fucking minute and thought like a life mate he’d have known
she’d react this way

Leaving his quarters William goes after her. The
look on his face has everyone moving to the side. When the Admiral
is on the war path no one wanted to be in his way.

Catching up with her as she approaches her hatch
William finds she’s already deactivated the lock and is starting to
push the hatch open. He’s not sure once she’s in her quarters
she’ll talk to him.

“Cassandra!” He barks out, harsher then
intended, causing the crewmen walking towards her to freeze.

With her hand on the hatch she sees the crewmen
freeze. She just wants to get inside and shut everything out so she
can be alone with her thoughts. But she can’t bring herself to
ignore William in front of his crew. Taking a deep breath she steps
away from the now partially open hatch.

“Admiral,” It’s as far as she gets before the
world explodes throwing her into the dark.

William watches in horror as the corridor
explodes sending shrapnel everywhere. Cassandra is thrown down the
corridor and into the bulkhead where she falls unconscious to the
floor, the crewmen blown back down the corridor. Alarms sound as he
rushes to her side.

The seconds it takes William to get to her feel
like a lifetime. Kneeling down he presses unsteady fingers to her
neck, closing his eyes in relief as he feels a pulse. The relief is
short lived as he sees blood seeping from under her head.

“Admiral! Are you hurt!” Bliant rushes to his
side.

“It’s Cassandra Bliant.”

Bliant hears the fear in the Admiral’s voice.
He’s watched the relationship develop between them over the past
few weeks. He knows there is a strong bond.

“Admiral, you have to stand aside so I can check
her.” When he doesn’t immediately move Bliant tries again.
“Admiral! I can’t help her unless you move!” Standing William
quickly moving to the side watching as Bliant runs his skilled
hands across Cassandra’s body checking for injuries.

Over his shoulder Bliant shouts to the
approaching medical team. “I need a stretcher over here stat!” He
looks up at the Admiral. “She’s got numerous lacerations from
shrapnel, some deeply imbedded. Mostly on her left side,
surprisingly no broken bones. The head injury seems superficial but
I won’t know for sure until I get her back to medical. She’s
stable.” Bliant turns back to his patient. William steps further
back as the medical move in with the stretcher.

“Admiral!” William turns to find Quinn at his
side.

“I want a security detail with the stretcher
Quinn.”

“Yes sir.”

“Get one sent to the class where Victoria is.
Tell them to wait for Lucas. Contact Lucas. Tell him what’s
happened. He’ll be in charge of Victoria’s protection.” He watches
as the medical personnel carefully position Cassandra so not to
further aggravate the embedded shrapnel. When they start to move
her he turns back to Quinn.

“You’re in charge here Quinn. Get me some
answers! I’m in medical.”

Cassandra’s room fills with medical personnel as
she’s moved from stretcher to bed. Dozens of hands start checking,
hooking up machines.

“Stop!” William orders, freezing everyone.

“Admiral, we don’t have time for this.”

“Everyone OUT! NOW! Except you Bliant.” The
personnel look at Bliant. At his nod they leave the room.

“You are to remain outside this door.” William
orders the security detail. “No one gets in here unless I clear
them. Is that understood?”

“Yes sir!”

“Dismissed!”

“Admiral.” Bliant tries again.

“This is the second attempt on her life Bliant.
You know that. Until I know who is to blame no one touches her but
you
! Is that
understood
?” Bliant’s finally
understands the Admiral’s concern.

“Surely you don’t suspect one of my people.”

“I’m not taking any chances. You said she’s
stable. Can you handle her injuries?”

Bliant looks at the extent of the damage to
Cassandra’s left side. “Yes I can handle it. But understand this
Admiral.” Bliant turns fierce eyes to William’s. “If for any reason
I feel she’s in jeopardy, I will call in any personnel I deem
necessary. Is
that
understood?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Then since you’ve just become my
assistant lose the jacket, we need to cut these clothes off her so
I can see the full extent of the damage. There is a blanket in the
closet behind you, get it. We’ll start at her feet working our way
up, covering her as we go. I don’t want her going into shock.”
Working together the two men start cutting off Cassandra’s
clothes.

Lucas is stunned as he listens to Quinn. How the
fuck
had a bomb been planted in Cassandra and Victoria’s
quarters? What if Victoria had been there?

“You’ve sent a security team?” He demands.

“Yes. They’ll stand guard until you arrive.”
Quinn confirms.

“Victoria is going to want to know how Cassandra
is.”

“All I know is Bliant said she’s stable. From
what I could see she took a lot of shrapnel to the left side and
back. She’d turned, taken a few steps away from the hatch before it
blew. Otherwise…” Quinn trails off.

“But she’s stable.” Lucas persists.

“Yes. Your father is in medical with her.”

“Good. He’ll have her secure. I’ll do the same
with Victoria. He put you in charge of the investigation?”

“Yes.”

“Let me know what you find out.” Lucas orders as
he disconnects, sounding very much like the Admiral to Quinn’s
mind.

All Cassandra sees is darkness. Are her eyes
even open? She isn’t sure. She feels nothing. Is she supposed to be
able to feel? What are feelings? The dark seems to seep into her,
until she is the dark. There is something, something she needs
to…she loses the thought. She’s floating in the dark, it isn’t
unpleasant. Maybe she’ll just stay, floating.

Something’s trying to get her attention. Turning
her head she can see a very dim light. “So far away.” She thinks,
turning away. But something makes her look back. The light is
brighter, closer. She’s curious and stands up. Had she been sitting
all this time? She walks towards the Light.

The closer she gets the brighter it is, but it
doesn’t hurt her eyes, the dark starts to fade. There’s movement in
the Light, but she can’t tell what it is. Getting closer a shape
seems to be forming, emerging from the Light. It looks so familiar,
but why? Stopping Cassandra watches as the figure approaches.

“Grams?” She whispers.

“Hello Cassie.” The blue eyes meeting hers are
just as she remembers.

“Grams, I don’t understand.”

“We decided that I should be the one to talk to
you.”

“We?” Cassandra asks realizing other figures are
emerging behind her grandmother. As she looks she recognizes them
all, all the Qwes women, including her mother.

“Mom….” Her mother smiles at her.

“Yes, she’s here, but she had such a short time
with you she felt I should be the one.”

“The one to what?” Cassandra returns her eyes to
her Grams.

“Lead you from the dark. You are part of the
Light Cassandra…you don’t belong in the dark. Now you must decide
which light you will be a part of.”

“Which one?” Cassandra looks around. “Gram’s
this is the only light.”

“That’s the dark, trying to take it away. You
have another Light Cassie. You need to decide whether to return to
it or stay with us. It is your choice.”

Cassandra looks from her grandmother to all that
came before her. One is standing slightly ahead of the others.

“Sabah.” She whispers.

“Yes Sabah is here, she is the first.”

Sabah’s beauty alone would make her stand out
with her long black hair and deep sapphire blue eyes. But she
towers over the other women, easily 6’7”. When their eyes met
Cassandra feels like she’s forgetting something. It’s there, just
outside her grasp. The intensity in Sabah’s eyes seems to be
telling her she needs to remember. When Sabah looks down,
Cassandra’s gaze follows stopping on her birthmark, it is a tower
of light, same as Cassandra’s but it glows white with rays of color
shooting out of it, blue, red, amber, green, and violet.