darknadir (9 page)

"And when they look elsewhere?" demanded Tallis, his narrow face looking more pinched than usual as he frowned. "What then, Kaid?"
"Then we will meet them with a force made up of not only the Alliance, but the Free Traders," said Kaid calmly. "Remember that they still call in at Jalna. The Free Traders may one day have as much reason to fear them as we do. Rezac, Jo, why do you think they left Jalna?"
"Same reason we had to, I assume," said Rezac. "They poisoned the soil, turned the natives too violent to handle. They might even have been affected by it themselves."
"Perhaps we can fashion some of that plant from Jalna into a Valtegan specific weapon— a chemical weapon," said Kate.
"Weapons of that type should be banned by all our worlds," objected Zashou. "To use something like that would be barbaric!"
Around his shoulders, Jeran's sand-colored hair began to rise. "So is destroying all life on two worlds. When facing an enemy so dedicated to eradicating us as a species, I'm sorry, but I'll use anything that comes to hand!"
"The decision wouldn't be ours anyway," said Kaid. A thought occurred to him. "Kate, Taynar, how many of your ship's navigation charts did the Valtegan officer who kidnapped you see?"
"Some," Taynar said. "Jeezah, our pilot, managed to wipe the majority of the charts before he realized what she was doing, but we did use one of the outer sector ones showing the jump points. He was definitely heading for a friendly base."
"Then we know a Valtegan base is reachable from the Chemerian homeworld," said Kaid quietly. "Rezac, did you ever see star charts, either yourself or through one of your telepathic contacts?"
"No. We weren't interested in the location of craft or worlds except for wanting to know where the rest of the fleet was. Our people took over the bridges and used the craft as weapons within the fleet to destroy them, get them fighting against each other."
"You did a commendable job. Then unless they've been collecting the salvage, there should be graveyards of dead ships floating around. And as far as we're aware, no Alliance member has ever come across them," murmured Kaid, thinking of the four Brotherhood outposts and the craft found there two hundred and fifty years ago.
"What about the Free Traders?" asked T'Chebbi. "Maybe they find what we haven't."
"Worth asking Tirak," agreed Kaid. "But the Chemerians might be more useful. Since they've kept this," he indicated the whole ship with a sweep of his arm, "from us, what else have they concealed? Tirak said his people are only allowed to approach Tuushu Station on one, specific, guarded route. They don't have free access to the Chemerian system. They're just as secretive with the Free Traders as they are with us."
"I want to know why the Valtegans visit Jalna every fifty years to take soil and plant samples," said Jeran.
"To see when it's free of poison," said T'Chebbi. "Then they can come back."
Rezac shifted uneasily. "But why leave the other species alone, let them trade there? It doesn't make sense. They have to control and dominate wherever they go. This is so unlike them."
"They had four worlds. Perhaps these ones from another world," said T'Chebbi. "Perhaps still fighting each other."
"Or the original slave worlds," suggested Zashou.
"Could be either," said Kaid. "If they lost their tech level as we did, perhaps their Empire was split. They could have just rediscovered each other and be fighting among themselves for dominance. It would explain the lack of interest in finding our home world."
"But why destroy our two colonies?" asked Tesha.
"The best theory so far is that they formed part of a corridor in space that ends at Keiss," said Kaid. "Unfortunately, projecting it in the opposite direction hasn't led to anything interesting. When you look at a holo map of those sectors of space, it becomes more obvious. Khyaal and Szurtha were just in their way, nothing more."
"Figures," growled Rezac. "It's the kind of thing they would do. Destroy what they couldn't use in case it was a threat to them."
"Doesn't explain Jalna, though," said T'Chebbi.
Kaid's attention began to drift. They could speculate all they wanted, but the hard fact was none of them knew anything for sure. He scratched unconsciously at his throat: he felt uncomfortable, itchy. The longer pelt was beginning to irritate him more now than before, but the lab's potions would remain effective for several weeks yet, both in his black coloring and the length of his pelt. Showers were fine, but what he needed was a good brushing to get rid of some of the denser, inner fur. It had been well over a week since either he or T'Chebbi had had time for such luxuries.

* * *

Carrie slept the sleep of winter, her body, like the ground, lying rimed with frost, her thoughts stopped between one impulse and the next. No one dreams in cryo.
Slowly, slowly, the images began to form within her calm world, taking on harder edges, emerging from the frozen mists that seemed to surround her. She saw a patchwork of forests and plains, leading toward the coast, a coast she knew well. Wait. There was a patch, a stain on the land: a greenness too bright for grass or forest. Almost iridescent, it crept away from the Taykui Hills, migrating toward the forest that surrounded her home. In her mind, she frowned, brows furrowing as she watched and tried to remember where she'd seen such a color before. But thoughts came slowly in this world of cold mists.
The stain inched forward toward the tree line that marked the boundary of their estate and there it stopped for the moment while she fought against the insidious chill, trying to remember. When it began to move again, the memory flooded back. It was as green as the drug la'quo that Kezule had used to travel through time!
She could hear the sound of her cub crying. Kashini! She'd left her daughter alone! Hard on its heels came the memory of her own mother in cryo on the outward trip to Keiss, the trip that had cost so many lives.
"Mother! Don't leave me!" she'd cried out to the silence of the sleeping ship.
She'd tried to move, to scream— anything to draw attention to herself, let them know her mother needed their help as she relived her first cryo nightmare. Terror flooded through her as she realized she was just as powerless, just as trapped as before— and just as aware of the threat to her daughter as she'd been of the danger to her mother those many years ago.
Pain lanced through her, burning, searing pain in her right side as she became aware of the distant sound of a klaxon. The realization she was in a cryo chamber came to her then, shocking and terrifying her more if it were possible. Then common sense took over: they must be waking her, how else could she feel the pain of her wound? Let them be quick, she prayed as she pushed the fear back. They had to know that Kezule was loose and heading for her daughter!

* * *

The klaxon roused Mrowbay from his desk. Leaping to his feet, he ran for the cryo units, yelling out a command for the alarm to cease, demanding a report from the medical computer.
"Life signs of patient in unit one fluctuating above acceptable limit," the electronic voice intoned. "Recommend increasing anaesthetic and coolant levels."
"Implement," snapped the medic, punching a sequence out on the control panel of Carrie's unit to review the errant readings.

* * *

Perception blurred and slowed as the frozen mists began to rise around her again. Not waking her at all, they were making her sleep! In desperation, she reached out with her mind for Kaid. He was her Third, mentally Linked to her and Kusac, he'd sense what was happening and intervene to help her!

* * *

Moments before the klaxon sounded, Kaid stiffened, reaching for the crystal at his throat— not the large one that linked him with Carrie, but the smaller one in the center of his Triad pendant. He knew instantly something was wrong with her.
"T'Chebbi, take over," he said, rising to his feet and walking to the door. "I have to attend to something."
In the passageway, he broke into a run. Mrowbay looked up from Carrie's unit as he entered the sick bay, claws skidding on the floor as he came to an abrupt stop beside him.
"What's up?" Kaid demanded of the large U'Churian without preamble as he peered through the transparent cover at the sleeping Human. "And don't tell me, nothing, I know better. I sensed her." He put his hand on the unit, spreading his fingers, willing himself to feel her mind once more within his.
"You can't have," said Mrowbay, hitting the final keys before looking up at him. "I know you're concerned for her, but no one can be aware of anything in cryo. It's impossible."
"Not for her. She's done it before. Tell me what happened."
"Nothing. Just some minor fluctuations in the levels of..."
"Wake her," interrupted Kaid. "She's aware, that's why your levels are out. She'll be terrified. Wake her."
"I can't. I've just increased the depth of her sleep," objected Mrowbay. "If I tried, she'd die, Kaid. The shock to her system would be too great."
Already he could feel his pendant cooling, the nebulous almost-contact with her fading. The medic was right. To wake her now without the proper medical care would kill her. "She's aware, Mrowbay," he said more calmly. "If we can't wake her, then put her deeper so we know she's really sleeping."
"What you claim is impossible, Kaid," said the U'Churian, taking Kaid by the arm in an effort to urge him away from the unit. "I know my equipment, and I've had a Human female in cryo before. Kate said nothing about dreams when she came out."
Kaid clenched his feet, claws gripping the floor covering as he refused to be moved. "And I know Carrie. Her memories are mine, Mrowbay. She was aware in cryo. Put her deeper. If we can't wake her long enough to calm her fears, then put her deeper."
"Do as he asks," said a voice from the doorway. "If he says he senses her mind, then he's right. Do it on our responsibility," said Rezac. "We know the workings of our Leskas' minds as well as you know your equipment."
Kaid glanced over at him from beneath lowered brows, unsure whether to be glad of the intrusion.
"Very well," sighed the beleaguered medic, turning back to the unit. "But on your heads be it."
Rezac remained where he was till Mrowbay had finished and returned to his office. Then he joined Kaid by Carrie's unit.
"Tell me about the Triads," he said. "How close does the link to your third grow?"
"I'm not the one to ask," said Kaid, moving away from him. "In a few days we'll be on the
M'Zekko.
There'll be a mentor there who can tell you what you need to know."
"I don't want theory. You're a member of the first Triad. You've got the personal experience," said Rezac, grasping him by the arm.
Kaid could sense Rezac's concern, the need the younger male had had to help him, and his confusion as to why it should be so important to him to do it. He was trying to conceal it beneath the request for information on the Triads, but he could feel the truth of it. As difficult as his position was, Rezac's was worse. While he, as the son, could try to ignore their biological relationship, Rezac, as his father, obviously could not. On some strange, subconscious level, he was aware of the relationship.
It surged through him then, a feeling from Rezac akin to what he felt when he touched his own son, Dzaka. With his free hand, he carefully disengaged himself from Rezac's grasp.
"Thank you for your support. I can tell you very little about the En'Shalla Triads. There are too few of us and our relationships are too new for any of us to know what is normal."
"You must be able to tell me something! Is it like a Leska Link? Are there Link days?" He spread his hands in a plea for help. "I still sense nothing from Zashou, and as for Jo..." He stopped in mid-sentence, ears dipping in the Sholan equivalent of a shrug. "What do I do, Kaid? She's my soul's mate, yet I still love Zashou. She was my first love, my own kind, the one I wanted above all others, even if she hates me except during our Link time."
Kaid's mouth widened slightly in a sardonic Human smile. He understood only too well, except Carrie, Kusac, and T'Chebbi were tied in his impossible dreams.
"You love them each as well as you can," he said, reaching out to touch the other's shoulder comfortingly. "Love them for their own worth, don't compare them or how you feel about each of them. And thank the Gods for Their double gift!"
"But what of Link days?"
Kaid lifted his shoulders in the Human shrug. "It depends on how closely you're Linked to Jo."
"She's always there. I haven't been able to sense Zashou since she lost our cub. It's as if Jo's replaced her." He was unable to stop his ears from lying flat in distress.
"It'll take some time for Zashou to recover," Kaid said awkwardly, remembering how Carrie had been after she'd lost her first child. He didn't want to talk about himself and Carrie, and especially not to this brash young male. Then he forced himself to remember that this time, Rezac was not being brash, was not pushing himself forward, but was instead asking for help.
"We don't have Link days," he continued slowly. "We're gradually drawn to each other— we know when it's our time. A Triad is more than that. It's a legal marriage between the three of us. The cubs Carrie has belong to us all."
"And now? With them both in cryo? How do you cope?"
Kaid stiffened, closing down the light rapport he'd permitted between himself and— his father. "I wait," he said shortly, and began to move out into the corridor. "I've told you all I know. At Valsgarth, our Clan estate, you'll learn the rest."

* * *

"We've found nothing," said Raiban in disgust. "My people can't even tell me if Kezule's still in the Taykui Forest or not!"
"Then you'll have to spread the search wider still," said Rhyaz calmly, regarding the General of Military Intelligence on his comm screen. She looked tired and harassed, as well she might under the circumstances. "He's not likely to want to remain hidden in the forest. He'll have some destination in mind by now."
"Obviously," she snapped. "It's where he's likely to head for that's got me worried."
Rhyaz raised an eye ridge. "Where's that?"
"Lhygo Spaceport, of course! He'll want to get off-world, find out where the others of his kind are."
"I think not, General. If I read him right, he'll not do that."
"Oh, and where d'you think he'll go? Back to Chezy and the ancient Valtegan hatching ground?"
"Perhaps. It's more likely than the spaceport."
"You're not exactly being helpful Rhyaz."
"May I remind you, General, that after your people let Kezule escape, you personally refused us entry to the facility at Shanagi? If I remember rightly, you said...."
"I know what I said, dammit! That was in the heat of the moment," she said tartly. "If I'm going to spread our net wider, we'll need the Brotherhood's help. I'm not prepared to advise we lessen our defense commitment to track down one Valtegan when we face a larger threat from them in space."
Rhyaz inclined his head. "The Brotherhood is more than willing to help you, General. What about Keeza Lassah?"
Raiban gestured briefly. "They found her shredded clothing, covered in her blood, and traces of his. She's dead, Rhyaz."
"You found her body?"
"Don't need to. If he didn't eat her, then one of the feral cats did. And by the way, it was General Naika's staff who were on duty when Kezule escaped."
"Ah, then we're no longer being held responsible? That's good to know. Thank you for telling me, General." He held his peace on the issue of Keeza. Brotherhood personnel were already looking for her; he wanted her alive and that meant kept out of Raiban's claws. As far as he was concerned, she wasn't dead until he saw her corpse.
Raiban growled gently. "I want your people guarding the spaceport, Master Rhyaz," she said. "Every passenger has to be checked, every piece of luggage and cargo large enough for Kezule to conceal himself in, and every vehicle not only guarded from the moment it lands, but searched immediately prior to takeoff."
"You're going to need an explanation for the newsvids, General. This is going to cause long delays and be very unpopular with everyone. And as I said, I think he's very unlikely to head for there. My bet is he'll make for the Valsgarth estate."
"Revenge? It might be the Brotherhood's way, but that male is a professional soldier, Rhyaz, a general! His priority will be to return to the nearest unit of his people."
He could hear the amusement in Raiban's voice and decided to ignore the insult. "Not revenge, a desire to return to his own time and reverse what has happened to his species' future on Shola. Security on the Aldatan and Valsgarth estates needs to be increased, General."
"There's enough people there already. In fact, I'm tempted to pull some out to help us catch Kezule. There hasn't been any threat to the mixed Leskas for a long time. If you want more soldiers, you'll have to use your own people, Rhyaz, if you've any left after deploying them at the spaceport. I expect them to be in position first thing tomorrow morning. Send me a list of the names and numbers you're sending and I'll have them added to the Forces payroll. Good day, Rhyaz."
As soon as the screen blanked, Rhyaz turned to his aide, L'Seuli. "She's right, we won't have the personnel on Shola to spare. Once you've drawn up Raiban's list and issued orders for those concerned, check the active roster and see who we can recall without arousing suspicion."
"Are you sure he'll head for there, Master Rhyaz?"
"No, but it's more likely than the spaceport."
"What about Chezy? Kezule took Fyak back to his time from there. He might be able to use the same method to take himself back."
"I've already got a small unit there, just in case."