Crystal Healer (18 page)

"Why do they want that?" Xonea murmured, and then signaled back with, "Sentinel, I am happy to answer any questions you have now."

No reply came over the channel, and a moment later the patrol ship terminated the relay.

Xonea eyed the display. "This could be a ploy to capture us."

"They will not fire on you unless you ignore an order or attack them," Jylyj said. "They prefer to avoid violence with offworlders."

"Then why have they enabled their weapons?" Xonea countered.

Jylyj glanced at the display. "The oKiaf avoid violence, Captain, but from outsiders they have come to expect it. They are preparing for the worst."

"If reporting to this security station is standard procedure," my husband said, "Uorwlan will confirm it."

My ClanBrother nodded. "Send a signal to the trader. Do not encrypt it; they will be monitoring everything we do, and we do not want to appear secretive."

Reever went to the com officer's console and sent the signal. The trader responded soon after that.

"The oKiaf maintain security stations at four points along their system grid," Uorwlan said. "All ships entering the system are required to first dock at the nearest station for inspection. You needn't be concerned about it, old friend. They will ask a lot of questions and inspect every part of the ship, but they wish only to see for themselves if you are telling the truth."

The signal was audio only, so I couldn't see the trader's face, but the voice sounded soft and beguiling, as if they were discussing something far more personal and intimate.

"How long before you reach us?" Reever asked the trader.

"We've had some engine problems, so we won't be there until tomorrow." Uorwlan said something else in a language that the ship's translator did not recognize, and then terminated the relay.

"What did that last part mean?" Xonea wanted to know.

Reever gave him a bland look. "Nothing but a farewell."

Xonea was almost convinced by Uorwlan's reassurances, but still performed a remote scan of the security station. The results showed it to be an artificial satellite, three times the size of the
Sunlace
, with an array of powerful defensive weaponry, ten docking bays, and a small fleet of patrol vessels.

"It seems an excessive amount of security to guard a planet of primitives," Xonea said as he contemplated the scans.

"In the past both the League and the Faction have occupied this system," Reever said, "and Skart was destroyed by the Hsktskt. If that happened in your solar system, how open would you keep your borders?"

My ClanBrother's expression darkened. "I wouldn't bother to board or question unexpected arrivals." He looked at my husband. "This trader's information, you are sure it is reliable?"

Reever nodded. "I freed Uorwlan and a dozen other Takgiba from slavery. She is bound to me by a life debt. She would not lie or lead us into a trap."

She.
So this Uorwlan was female, knew my husband well, and owed him her life. Already I didn't like her. Still, what Reever had done in the past was of little concern to me, and the life debt practically guaranteed the Takgiba's loyalty.

"I agree with Duncan," I told Xonea. "We should go to the station."

The two patrol ships escorted the
Sunlace
to the oKiaf station, where Xonea performed another remote scan before maneuvering alongside the dock. Only when our engines were powered down did the patrol ships depart.

Reever and I accompanied Xonea to meet the boarding party. The oKiaf sent a group of ten armed security officers along with four station supervisors to inspect the ship. At the boarding platform airlock, Jylyj pulled me aside.

"oKiaf females are not permitted to serve in the defense forces or leave the homeworld," he said."Males are not accustomed to dealing with women in official capacities, and your presence here may cause discomfort."

I shrugged. "I rarely make anyone feel comfortable."

"Know that the males will not address you directly, and they will be offended if you speak to them," he warned. "They may even ask that you be removed. If that happens, do not object. It is not personal."

"An Iisleg female who does not obey a male is usually beaten, often until she dies," I told him. "I think I will tolerate being sent from the room."

After arranging crew escorts for the oKiaf security detachment to take them around the ship, Xonea invited the station supervisors into a nearby conference room.

Reever sat on my right, and Jylyj on my left. The resident drew almost as much attention as my husband and I did, and was the first person the oKiaf in charge of the boarding party spoke to.

"I had not expected to meet one of those lost to us," Colonel Pegreas said to Jylyj. He ducked his nose down and twisted his head to the right and left before raising his eyes. "You are very welcome here, brother."

The resident bowed his head in a similar fashion. "This son of Rushan is grateful to have made the journey, Colonel."

"We have heard your people have endured much living among the outsiders." Pegreas spared Reever a dark glance. "It is hoped that you are being treated fairly by these outsiders."

"I am." Jylyj touched the front of his tunic. "They have provided work, shelter, and kinship. I have no complaints, but much praise for their kindness to me."

Pegreas seemed to relax a little. "What of your people, Brother?"

"The faithful were briefly deceived by false prophets, but were saved by allies on K-2," Jylyj told him. "The sons of Rushan could not remain on the colony there, but the aquatics offered sanctuary on one of their moons."

"So it is true. We had heard rumors, of course, but given the nature of that world . . ." Pegreas shook his shaggy head, causing some of the beads woven in his silver mane to clink together. "Is that why you have come to dwell with these strangers? To escape that wet horror?"

"I have answered my calling," Jylyj said flatly. "That is all you need know."

The colonel seemed a little taken aback by the resident's tone, and for a moment I thought Jylyj had offended him. But Pegreas recovered quickly and inclined his head.

"As you speak, Brother, so I hear." He turned to give Xonea a far less friendly look. "We have had some limited but favorable contact with Jorenians in the past.Your people also broke with the League before the war. Those are the only reasons I permitted you to come here."

"We are grateful for your consideration, Colonel," Xonea said. "Our mission is an important one, and the data we collect here may save many lives on other worlds."

Pegreas didn't seem impressed. "You mission means nothing to the oKiaf. We no longer concern ourselves with what happens outside our borders."

"If this black crystal has infected any of the worlds in your system, it will poison your species and possibly cause mass extinction in the future," Xonea said. "I would think that to be of great concern to the oKiaf."

"How do we know you are not attempting to mine the crystal for use by the Allied League as a weapon?" Salanas, one of the other supervisors, demanded. A smaller, darker male, he had sharp teeth and eyes so light and cold they seemed made of alloy.

Xonea kept his tone calm and reasonable. "Our ship is not equipped as an ore hauler, and we have no treaty with the League."

"Your people have served on their ships." Salanas gestured toward me and Reever. "You even brought two of them with you."

"You are mistaken," Xonea said. "Jarn and Duncan are citizens of Joren, not the League." He turned to Pegreas. "You have had contact with our people. You must know that we have never been warmongers or invaders. One of our ClanLeaders, Teulon Jado, negotiated the terms of peace that ended the war between the League and the Hsktskt."

"After the League massacred his kin and sold him to slavers," Pegreas replied, evidently unmoved. "While Joren is famous for its neutrality, we know that the Jorenians have never been a particularly forgiving people. How do you explain the Jado's actions?"

Salanas sniffed. "They smell to me of cowardice."

Xonea's eyes narrowed, but it was Jylyj who said, "Perhaps you have had your nose buried too long in your own affairs."

Salanas's expression turned to one of astonishment, and again Pegreas gave the resident a startled look.

"I am Jarn of Akkabarr, and I served the Iisleg as a battlefield surgeon during the rebellion," I said before the oKiaf could respond or anyone could stop me. "Raktar Teulon was my general."

"There," Salanas said, making a rude gesture toward me. "He favors females. Is that not indicative of his own character?"

"When our rebels prevailed over the Toskald, Teulon had the means to wipe out their civilization and send thousands of ships against the League and the Hsktskt armies," I told the supervisor. "He set aside the revenge he wanted--and surely deserved--and sought instead to bring peace to all the worlds involved in the conflict." I regarded Salanas. "
That
, Supervisor, took more courage than you could possibly understand."

"You see?" Salanas turned to Pegreas. "They use females to speak for them. She even questions my intelligence. Is this not proof enough of their perversions?"

"I don't care if females have no voice among your people, Colonel," I told Pegreas. "I will not hear my general being slandered by your officer and remain silent. His ignorance needs correction."

As Jylyj had predicted, the oKiaf colonel didn't care for me addressing him any more than Salanas had; the pelt around his skinny muzzle drew into a faint snarl. But as he looked into my eyes, his expression eased.

"The honor and actions of Teulon Jado will not be questioned by the oKiaf." He said the words while looking at Xonea, but they were meant for me. "Supervisor Salanas will keep his opinions to himself."

Salanas opened his mouth as if to argue, saw Pegreas's cold eyes, and fell silent.

"What has happened to oKia?" Jylyj asked, sounding impatient now. "The war is over. You have no valid reason to close the borders and repel outsiders now."

"We lost more than Skart and your people to the war," Pegreas said. "When the Hsktskt invaded, they raided our cities and killed thousands. We drove them out, but not before they leveled Hafila, Matuk, and Asani."

Jylyj went rigid. "They attacked the Elphi?"

"Indeed. They murdered the Highest One and every member of his tribe before the eyes of the people, hoping to instill fear and submission to their will."

The Skartesh sighed. "Fools." He glanced at the rest of us. "The Elphi is the elected leader of the oKiaf people. If he is harmed or killed by anyone, his chieftains swear blood vengeance. It is a death vow, and cannot be revoked until vengeance is taken."

"Our chieftains summoned the tribes from the valleys and the mountains, from the ice lands and the forests. We surrounded the beasts and we slaughtered them until they ran to their ships and fled oKia." Pegreas paused as if to savor the memory. "After our world was free of the invaders, the chieftains did not elect a new Elphi. They led the people back into the wilderness, where we could fight on our terms. But the beasts, cowards that they are, never returned, and so it was decided that the people should remain one with the land."

"You abandoned all of your cities to live in hiding?" Xonea sounded perplexed.

"We were not hiding, Jorenian." Salanas bared his teeth. "We did that in the cities, in the structures built by the League, smothered by their cursed technology. When we returned to the land, we rediscovered the freedom we had sacrificed. We took back what we had lost."

"You must not have abandoned everything," Reever said. "Or you would not be manning these security stations or flying patrols around your system."

"My men and I volunteered to live on the stations and maintain constant patrols in order to protect the tribes," the colonel said. "So we have, since the end of the war."

Jylyj gave Pegreas an odd look. "None of you have ever returned to the homeworld? Why?"

Pegreas pulled up his sleeve and showed a clean-shaven place on his forearm with burn scar tissue that formed a three-sided symbol. To the rest of us, he said, "We are the last of the Elphian guard. As we once dedicated our lives to guarding the Elphi, so we now live here in space to watch over oKia."

Xonea glanced at the viewport. "I would think you could do that just as well on the planet."

The colonel replaced his sleeve. "When we left the League, they sent spies to our world to infiltrate the people. When we caught them, they claimed they meant to stop our 'cultural regression' by persuading our chieftains to return to the cities and take up their ways. But what they truly wished was to convince our young men to again serve in their militia."

"It's said that the oKiaf were some of the best intelligence officers in the League," Reever said.

"We were, and our resignation from the League did not sit well with them. They infiltrated our homeworld and made a nuisance of themselves again and again, until it became apparent stronger measures had to be taken," Pegreas continued. "We Elphian took charge. We had the League spies send for supply vessels with the materials we needed to build the security stations. They gladly gave us all the patrol ships we requested, thinking that we would in turn hand over our men. They were quite surprised when we finished the preparations and sent them to Quadrant command with orders to stay out of our space."

"We burned our words into their cringing back hides, so there could be no further misunderstanding." Salanas uttered a rough sound of sour amusement. "Even so, they still sent more."

"They kept coming until we destroyed the three of their ships." Pegreas didn't sound especially happy or remorseful, only matter-of-fact. "In the end, that was the only message they understood."

"We have no desire to meddle with your people or your politics," Xonea said. "Our mission is to perform orbital and surface scans to detect the presence or absence of black crystal. Given the tasks at hand, we have no reason to engage in contact with the oKiaf, although my medical staff would appreciate the chance to scan the natives for crystal contamination."