Only Human (19 page)

 "And that means that we have some
time," Tychon said. He came to his feet. "I take it that a Shantir is
required to release the Tughan. We must restrict all of them to Delphi. Tharron
cannot be allowed to recruit one. Kiran will be harmless."

"Enough!" Nova glared at him.
"How can you talk like that? It's as though he's a dart gun with a loose
trigger. He's your son!" She turned to Jelani. “And you knew this, all
these years? And you said nothing to Tychon?”

"Shan Jelani," Carras said, his authoritative
voice demanding, and receiving, their attention. "What if Tharron tries to
access Kiran's potential now?"

 “Yes, please tell,” Tychon said and Nova
thought she had never heard three words sound so much like a threat of
violence.

Jelani made a helpless gesture.
"Overtaxing the young talent could set up a chain reaction that will be
impossible to stop. The only way the… the previous candidates had been stopped
was by… by termination of the subject."

“They were killed?” Tychon exclaimed. “They
murdered them?”

Nova stepped in front of Tychon as if to
physically stop him from harming the frail elder. He grasped her arms, perhaps
meaning to push her aside, but then just stopped and held her there like a
shield against his own fury. His eyes remained fixed on Jelani.

"We must assume that Kiran is in rebel
hands,” Carras said. “If Tharron has somehow discovered the existence and
whereabouts of the Tughan, he must also know of its dangers. As a safeguard, I
will make sure that he is told. We have ways of reaching his ear."

Tychon nodded. “Probably a good idea.” He
had recaptured his outward calm but Nova could feel the tension in his hands
and almost hear the pounding of his heart. None of this now showed on his face.
He looked down at her and released her arms. Only she noted his hand brushing
across her midriff, a silent apology, when she stepped away from him. "He’ll
have to wait until Kiran is older. That would give us time. Years perhaps. We
will find him."

Carras ran a not-quite steady hand over his
scalp, irrationally thinking that it might be time for a shave. "I know
what Tharron will do to gain control. He will find a way to secure the services
of a Shantir that will set his morals aside. Tharron is a very wealthy and
powerful man."

"Colonel," Jelani protested.
"Are you implying that he will be able to buy a member of our most revered
sect of–"

"He is not above bribery or
blackmail," Tychon said.

"Perhaps when it involves purchasing
the services of your Union officers, never a Delphian!"

"I don't think I want to hear any more
about Delphian nobility, Elder Brother.” There was nothing respectful in the
way Tychon used the honorific. He turned toward the Colonel. "Tal, I want
unrestricted access to weapons, planes, personnel and credit. Also Vanguard
Nine and One. There are people who owe me a favor or two. Some of them are
smugglers and thieves that have been to places where we cannot go. We'll start
on Magra. V6 is already there. We will find the boy. We will return him to
Delphi and the Shantirs." He scowled at Jelani. "You have made a
monster out of my son! You should have told me about this years ago. I would
never have taken Kiran from Delphi."

“I have a responsibility to Delphi’s
internal matters!”

“You have a responsibility to your clan,”
Tychon replied. His voice was steady. “Hear me, Jelani. If harm comes to my
son, it will also come to you and every damn Shantir on Delphi.”

* * *

The Centauri Colonel, alone in his office,
stared mournfully at his hand which most persistently refused to have anything
to do with the communications console on his desk.

Once Jelani had recovered from Tychon's
uncharacteristically hateful threat and the Vanguard officers had left, Carras
had questioned the older Delphian. Jelani assured him that a weapon like the
Tughan Wai in Tharron's hands would end this war once and for all.

Carras shuddered visibly and moved his
finger to activate the intercom. "Soto, prepare a transmission to the Commonwealth
Factors. Code One."

He heard a small intake of breath, not
quite a gasp. "Code...right away, sir. Which Factor?"

Carras considered. Five Factors were
Centauri, as he was. There were two Humans, a Sahani, a Feydan and one, Baroch,
was Delphian. Of the Ten, Jacobs, Velu, Chighan and Nor were on Alpha Centauri
and four years of travel away.

"I wish to compose a message to
Baroch."

The screen on his desktop unit came to
life. There would be no open visual or aural communication during a Code One
transmission. The recording system was shut down; unless an enemy intercepted
the transmission, there would be no permanent record of this. Slowly, he typed
his message, a bland letter of greeting and news from one official to another.

The message arrived at its destination
after its trip through the reach to Feyd to finally appear on the screen of
Baroch's bedside reader where it had awakened him. The Delphian squinted at the
screen, reading with growing alarm about a new, possibly profitable import item
from Pelion and the ongoing drought on Targon. When the letter had scrolled
from the screen, Baroch was sitting straight up in his bed, face bathed in
sweat and feeling his heart pound in his ears. The missive that he had gleaned
from the letter was coursing through his mind and would not allow him to return
to sleep, nor would he do so until he could summon his peers for an emergency
council. Carras' message was as clear as his comment about the weather: THARRON
OWNS THE TUGHAN!

* * *

A council assembled within days. The Factors
stationed in Trans-Targon resided on separate planets and were rarely found in
the same room together. Now that one of them deemed it necessary to meet in
person rather than take a risk with slow-moving and one-sided communications,
an immense security force was put together. It was decided to meet on Coup
d'Oeil, a sparsely populated planet beyond Myra and the reach of active rebel
movements. A remote airfield was cleared of vehicles and its ground crew
replaced by Union personnel. The entire area was swept clean of unidentified
machinery, shipping containers and mobile mechanicals. Cordons were erected and
local law enforcement instructed to reroute local traffic. A new ship to
surface communications system was brought in and installed.

One at a time, planes from as far away as
Pelion arrived on Coup d'Oeil, each delivering one of the Commonwealth leaders.
Once dismissed, the planes departed the airfield to hover in orbit among scores
of fighter planes, cruisers, one battleship and several Vanguard Eagles.

One of the Eagles was Number Seven,
bringing with them Colonel Carras.

"Why can't we be present at this
council?" Nova demanded when, after they had idled above the planet for a
few days, the Factors were finally assembled and ready to interview the Colonel.
"This is about Major Tychon's son, after all."

Carras shrugged tiredly and Tychon, at the
helm, remained silent, his attention on landing the Eagle. He had no patience
for any of this. He had assigned Nova to convey the Colonel back to Targon
after the meeting while he would go on to Magra Alaric with Vanguard Three. All
of them were glad that the waiting had ended when a message arrived, ordering
them to bring Carras to the surface.

Once on the ground, the Colonel was kept
waiting a while longer in one of the appropriated hangars and then searched
politely but thoroughly. Only when the security team was satisfied that he
would not endanger the lives of the Factors was he allowed to proceed into the council
room.

He entered the small chamber, a little uneasy
until he had adjusted himself to the deadened atmosphere. The room was sealed;
no known device could record or transmit the words that would be spoken here
today. The Factors were seated in a scattering of comfortable chairs. No need
for tables, no need for notes.

"Colonel Carras," Baroch said,
his voice flat and without echo.

"Sire," Carras replied. The odd
condition of the room seemed to snatch the word from his lips as he pronounced
it.

"Let's not waste time," Bender,
the Feydan Prime said. "I must say I was prepared to hear something
extraordinary when summoned here, but this is beyond what I had imagined. Lord
Baroch told us of that Tughan Wai creature and what it could mean in Tharron’s
hands. We will request further information from Delphi’s Shantir enclave. Now
you will tell us how you have come to know of its existence."

Carras complied, addressing all of them,
his voice steady. He had dreaded this meeting; the thought of being confined
with the absolute leaders of the Union had threatened to unnerve him. No matter
what his rank and experience, he was a soldier and government dealings had
never interested him. It was something ambassadors dealt with, in his opinion.

The Union itself stretched far beyond this
small, crowded sector of their galaxy, encompassing not only Terra Centauri and
Trans-Targon but also the lifeless mining planets of Chitta Moor and the newly
charted Nenele solar system. Although several had risen from among Air Command
ranks, only two of these men, both Centauri, were actually charged with
military matters. The other eight decided over concerns such as commerce,
resource and technology, migration and culture. Since Trans-Targon was the
sector most populated with habitable, valuable planets and the only one
threatened by the rebel enemy, six of the Ten Factors resided here, their
presence required to govern the rapid spread of the Union's influence. Now that
Carras stood before them, he did not feel daunted. He did not feel anything at
all.

None of them spoke for what seemed eons
after Carras had told them what he knew. His eyes traveled from one to the next
until he could wait no more. "It seems to me, Lords, that our main concern
must be to liberate the young Delphian and return him to a safe environment. It
means that we must step up our efforts against the rebels. I need resources, ships,
more staff."

“Who is aware of this situation?” Factor
Coyle asked.

“Factor Baroch issued a gag order. As far
as I know, only two Vanguard officers and Shan Jelani know that the boy is missing.
The school isn’t about to advertise that they let him disappear and they have
been directed to keep it that way. We don’t know how much the kidnappers know
of the boy’s nature.” He glanced at Baroch. “And we have no way of knowing who
on Delphi does.”

“Apparently Jelani does,” Baroch said. “You
mentioned that one of the officers is the boy’s father?”

“Yes, Factor. Major Tychon.”

“Where is his mother in all this?”

“Deceased, sire.”

Baroch winced.

“Do you have any leads on who took the
child?”

Carras nodded. He stepped out of the way to
let them watch excerpts from the school’s security video that he now displayed
on a nearby screen. A camera had captured the trio of strangers walking down a
hallway with a school staff member. Unmistakable among them was a Caspian, his
visible skin covered in blond hair as dense and short as that of a horse. When
they passed the camera, he lifted his eerily elongated head to smile at them.
One of his yellow eyes winked slowly.

“That rogue!” Coyle exclaimed.

Some of the others also grumbled at the
affront.

Carras froze the video and pointed at the
Caspian. “Pe Khoja, one of Tharron’s closest associates. We assume that the
K’lar woman is there to look after the boy which gives me hope that they mean
him no harm. She is not known to us. The Human is also one of Tharron’s men. As
you can see, Pe Khoja does not care if we know of his involvement in this.”

“That much is clear,” Baroch said. "Please
wait outside, Colonel, while we debate this matter."

Carras let himself out of the room and
waited impatiently in the stark antechamber, surrounded by stone-faced guards.
He had hoped to deliver his report and then be dismissed. Surely, the Ten
employed agents who would know how to find a child hostage among the enemy.
This would allow him to forbid Tychon and Nova to search for the boy, leaving
the matter to those who could remain impartial. It would be better that way.

He paced, knowing that his involvement with
the Tughan was only beginning. The news of his existence would have to remain a
secret, not only to avoid panic but also to avoid further strain on the Union's
relations with Delphi. And he, Carras, already knew of it. And he, Carras,
commanded a squadron of agents that were considered to be the Union's best, the
only cohesive group that could be trusted to keep this secret a secret. And two
of those already knew of the Tughan. The same two that could identify the boy
at a glance. Vanguard Seven.

Carras mopped his brow, sweating profusely.
Had anything in his past career prepared him for a mission such as this? Was
his Vanguard prepared? They had studied Tharron until they knew his past and
present like they knew their own. They knew where he employed his rag-tag
armies and who his associates were. They recognized his voice and could
recognize his face in a crowd of K'lars. It was all that his Vanguard were
employed to do: Destroy Tharron and, until that was accomplished, discover his
bases, towns, advisors and hangers-on. Anticipate his moves and foil his
efforts to damage the Union Commonwealth. Tharron was the only reason that the
army was such a vast and expensive organization in Trans-Targon. Anywhere else
in the Commonwealth peace prevailed and power struggles were carried out most
civilly by huge trade conglomerates and combines, politicians and shipping
magnates.