thefiremargins Page 19

  "Haven't I?" he said, reaching down for her other arm and pulling her to her feet. He traced the edge of her jawline with a finger, pursuing her when she tried to turn her face from him. Cupping her chin in his hand, he forced her to look up at him.

  "Come on, Vanna," he said quietly. "You know you're looking forward to tomorrow. Our Link gives us something no other partners have, whether we want to admit it or not." His mind reached for hers, playing back their last time together as he let her chin go.

  She found herself looking at him, finding him rather attractive with his dark wavy hair falling to his shoulders, and the bearded face that made him less Human and somehow more Sholan.

  She felt her hand move up to his face, then stopped, realizing what he was doing, and snatched her hand back. "You've picked up Sholan telepath tricks," she said with disgust. "I've still got the choice today, and I don't want to be with you, so let me go, Brynne."

  "That's not strictly true, is it, Vanna?" he said softly, his other arm pulling her closer. "You're carrying our child. I know you feel something for me. It may be deep down, but it's there, and you can't hide it forever."

  "You're confusing biology with emotions, Brynne," she said, trying to push him away. "What I feel when we pair on our Link day has nothing to do with what I feel when I'm not driven by the Link's compulsion, and you know that. I could say the same about you."

  "Maybe it's true," he said, placing his cheek on hers and gently rubbing against it before beginning to carefully nip her with his teeth.

  He knew how to play the Sholan lover, she admitted to herself as she tried to suppress her response to him. It wasn't surprising, since he knew everything she knew, including how to please her— when he made the effort.

  Before she realized it, she'd relaxed against him and turned her face to his. His mouth closed on hers in a kiss that belonged to the Human in him.

  The anger had gone from his mind, and for a wonder, all she felt from him was a gentleness toward her, and his enjoyment of the moment. It was the first time she'd ever felt that outside their Link days, and even then it had only been transient.

  He released her, stepping back slowly, his hands cupping her face and smoothing the soft, short fur. "Maybe it's true," he said again, and she felt a strange, fleeting emotion she couldn't name pass through him as he turned toward the door. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said as he left.

  She sat down, building a mental barrier of the type Kusac had shown her. Behind this she could afford to be confused, and wonder what was happening between her and her Leska. Surely he wasn't coming to care for her, was he? Why would he make a point of telling her he was going to live with a female from his own species if that were the case? Or was he doing it to protect himself from her, from beginning to care about her, an alien female?

  She shook her head, more confused than ever. Only time would tell. Would a caring Brynne be preferable to the uncaring one she was used to? She wasn't sure. It would certainly complicate her life to have two males loving her! Being honest, it was Garras who really mattered to her. That one night with Kusac had been good, had quieted the part of her that had wanted him before there was ever a Carrie, but he wasn't for her, and she knew it now.

  She turned her thoughts to Garras, and his surprising remark about being able to receive her. Surely that couldn't be true, could it? Still, it was worth trying if only as an experiment.

  Turning her mind outward, she focused on the feel of Garras' mind, then homed in on it, sending to him. She felt his acceptance, but it wasn't in the words she was used to receiving, more a feeling of confirmation. Surprised, she returned to her work, deciding she'd have to have a long talk with him about this later.

  * * *

  Seaport had altered enormously in the last few months, Jo realized as she headed toward the metal tower that was the remains of the star ship Erasmus. The place was getting positively crowded since the arrival of the second wave of colonists from Earth— not to mention the people from the Khalossa.

  The Sholans had insisted that the Humans accept their help since, having surveyed the planet some twenty years earlier, they actually had a prior claim. They'd refused to sit back and watch the Humans start mining the hills and setting up factories on the plains that would pollute not only the clean air but the look of the world.

  The terms of Keiss' membership in the Allied Worlds were still being negotiated by Carrie's father, Peter Hamilton, now President of Keiss, but aid had been granted to them on the grounds that the Alliance was on a war footing and arming Keiss was a priority. Consequently everything had been in a state of flux for months and was just beginning to sort itself out.

  Adequate residential bases had been built on Keiss' moon and blasting had started for the mining complex. Planetary defense was currently being supplied by the Sholan battleship the Khalossa— still in orbit— and its complement of smaller offensive craft, but Keiss needed its own ships as the Sholan forces were already stretched to capacity.

  Specialists from the Alliance had been shipped in from every related field to get the Human colony up and running on a high-tech level. No one could afford to wait for them to evolve their own technology naturally. Defense was needed now, as were the raw materials and industries to support the nascent space-faring society.

  Captain Skinner was now the Commanding Officer of Keiss' military forces, liasing from the surface with Commander Raguul and his officers on the Khalossa. It hadn't started out that way, Jo remembered. When Keiss was clear of the Valtegans and the colonists on the Eureka had been awakened, brought down to the planet and apprised of the situation there, she and all the others involved with the Sholans had been shouldered to the side as the newcomers had taken over. Being fresh from the home world and therefore more up to date with Earth's attitudes, they had assumed the positions of power on the planet.

  They had reckoned without Commander Raguul though, Jo grinned. By refusing to negotiate with anyone but the Humans he knew and trusted, he had Peter Hamilton and Skinner reinstated in positions of authority. Keiss, in his opinion, needed to be governed by those who had lived under the yoke of the Valtegans, knew the enormity of the task they faced, and were capable of making the necessary hard decisions.

  It had been from Skinner's office that the summons had come, bringing her away from the prefabricated labs where she was working.

  Jo elbowed her way past the people around the entrance, rubbing shoulders with Sholans and Sumaan. She hardly noticed them now, a sign in itself of the changes around her. Seaport was becoming very cosmopolitan. Not surprising, she thought, considering that the spaceport had been built a few kilometers away.

  She sighed with relief as the elevator door closed. It was empty. She hated crowds. Well, she hated being jostled by strangers. It wasn't so bad with the aliens, it was the large numbers of humans she couldn't take.

  The elevator came to a stop, doors opening to reveal an empty corridor. She headed to the right for Commander Skinner's office. Opening the door, she saw Davies sitting in the reception area.

  "Hi there," he said. "You get a royal summons, too?"

  "Yes. Any idea what it's about?" she asked, sitting down beside him.

  His eyes moved toward the secretary who sat behind a large desk guarding the door into Commander Skinner's inner sanctum. Leaning sideways he began to talk very softly.

  "Anders says there's been a flutter of excitement on the Khalossa over the last couple of days."

  "Are he and Mito still together?" she asked, surprised. "I thought it would be a one-night wonder for that ambitious Sholan lady."

  "Apparently not. She spent most of her leave planetside if there was a shuttle coming down, until she managed to wangle a posting out with us at Geshader."

  "Interesting. Maybe I should have a chat with Anders."

  Davies chuckled. "Oh, he's not the only one. There's another couple of the men with Sholan girls. Dr. Reynolds has tried to worm information out of them, but they aren't saying anythin
g."

  "But no more women."

  "Only Carrie, unless you count those the Sholans call qwenes— that's prostitutes to you and me. Mito says there are a couple more mixed Leska pairs from among the telepaths who went from Shola to Earth."

  "Men or women?"

  "Our people? No idea. I don't think Mito had either." He looked faintly surprised. "Why?"

  "Just a hunch, that's all," she said. "Anyway, this flurry on the Khalossa."

  "Uh? Oh, they're refitting a twelve-man scouter with armaments and the capability for deep-space flight. I'd say there's a mission looming in the very near future, one urgent enough not to wait for a larger FTL passenger vehicle and escort."

  "And you think it involves us?"

  "Not a chance, but I think it might involve the Valtegans, and what have you and I been working on?"

  "Valtegan artifacts," she said obligingly, hoping he'd go on.

  "What do you bet ..." he began but was cut off by the secretary.

  "Commander Skinner will see you now," he said.

  * * *

  "Jo, Davies," said the Commander, looking up as they came in. "Good to see you. You've gone up in rank, too, I see," he grinned, getting up and coming round from behind his desk.

  "Please, sit down," he said, indicating the easy chairs set around a low coffee table. "They're bringing some coffee for us. Bit different from the old days, eh?"

  He looks tired, she thought as he sat down. His previously tanned complexion was paler now that his rank kept him mainly indoors.

  They'd all been fitter during the days of the Resistance, but he'd kept his figure, not gone to fat like some of the younger men. Stockily built, with thinning fair hair and piercing blue eyes, at fifty-two he was still a fine figure of a man.

  A knock and the door opened to admit an orderly with a tray of coffee and biscuits.

  "Help yourselves," he said, taking his mug. He noticed Jo's quizzical glance. "Can't stand cups, you never get a decent sized drink in them. One of the many Sholan improvements I agree with."

  She grinned, picking up one of them.

  "I hear you're both working on the remains of Valtegan technology."

  Jo glanced at Davies. "Yes, I'm in the lab over in the new part of town."

  "I'm based at what's left of Geshader," said Davies.

  Commander Skinner nodded. "I'm told it's a mixed team."

  "Yes. I have a couple of sects of Touiban computer experts as well as a Sumaan electronics engineer," said Jo. "The Touibans are reconfiguring Sholan computers for our use and designing the programs to my specs."

  "We have a couple of Sumaan working on engineering as well as helping sort through the heavier equipment," said Davies. "Their strength is a real time-saver, especially in areas where you can't fit in lifting equipment."

  "No problems with the Sumaan or Touibans?"

  "No," said Jo. "Why should there be? We all know enough basic Sholan for us to understand each other. At first, the curiosity of the Touibans was— disconcerting," she said with a grin, "but they've settled down as team members."

  Davies began to grin.

  "From the look on your face, Davies, doubtless your grapevine is still as good as ever," said Commander Skinner. "Especially now you have a line to the Khalossa."

  Davies' face fell.

  "Come off it, man," said Skinner, smiling. "You don't think I lived and worked with the lot of you for all those years without getting to know you, do you? Or that I wasn't aware of most of the scams you and Skai were pulling? You were a tightly knit group then, the best I had. That's why I never interfered."

  Jo drained her mug and put it back on the table. "Where are we going?"

  Skinner's smile faded. "Jalna. A planet never contacted by the Alliance despite the fact the Chemerians have been trading there for fifty or more years. It's deep in Chemerian space."

  "Why?" asked Davies.

  "The Valtegan ship that was based here parked in orbit around Jalna a few weeks ago and traded for supplies. They sold four Sholans to the natives."

  "Sold!" exclaimed Jo. "What kind of people are these Jalnians? And where the hell did the Valtegans get the Sholans from?"

  "The Jalnians are humanoid like us, which is why we've been asked to send a team there. As for the Sholans, they were probably picked up from one of the two Sholan colony worlds that were destroyed. You aren't going there because of the Sholans. Two shuttles landed on Jalna, one traded and left. The other landed briefly, and illegally, outside the spaceport, then crashed on takeoff. That's the one we want you to investigate. The Alliance needs to know what the Valtegans were doing at Jalna and they think that craft holds the key."

  "Haven't the Jalnians examined it?" asked Davies.

  "Not yet apparently. It's in an isolated area several weeks' travel from the nearest town and their tech level is virtually nonexistent. Briefly, several other species unknown to the Alliance trade at the spaceport on the planet but no aliens are allowed out of the port area. Only humanoids can travel undetected among the Jalnains."

  "What about the four Sholans?" asked Davies.

  "Not our concern. The Sholans are sending in another team shortly to rescue them. Information on the Valtegans is our priority. Jo, you're going because you're the Valtegan language expert. I don't think anyone else in the Alliance knows as much as you do about them."

  "I know very little," she murmured.

  "It's still more than anyone else," replied Skinner. "Davies, you're going along as the engineer and electronics expert. I don't need to tell you how important getting this job done successfully is to us as a species, do I?"

  "No, sir," said Davies.

  "You'll get a full briefing on Shola. The Jalnian culture is apparently comparable with our Dark Ages so you're going to the Warrior Guild for a crash course in the appropriate weapon skills. You can't use guns on Jalna, only edged weapons. You'll also pick up the third member of your team there."

  "Who else is going?" asked Davies.

  "A human Telepath is being chosen from the Guild to go down onto the planet with you. There'll be a team of Sumaan elite Warriors as backup in the Chemerian trading vessel in case you run into trouble in the port area. Your contact on that craft will be a Sholan Telepath."

  "When do we leave?" asked Jo.

  "At sixteen hundred hours today from the spaceport. I'm sorry it's such short notice, but the whole mission has been mounted as a matter of urgency. No one has had much warning." Commander Skinner got to his feet, Jo and Davies following suit. "We need to reach that craft before the Jalnians. Take care, and good luck."

  As they traveled down in the elevator, Davies turned to Jo, letting out a long breath.

  "I don't know about you, but I could do with a beer after that."

  "Sure," said Jo. "I don't like the sound of Jalna. If we've got to dodge slavers as well as everything else, this could be very tricky. On top of that, we've to learn new weapon skills."

  "Blow that. I'll certainly be taking a gun, and so will you if you've got any sense," said Davies as the elevator doors opened on the ground floor.

  * * *

  The following day found Kusac and Carrie relaxing in the small bay where his estate bordered on the main Aldatan land. Carrie was a lot better, though still very tired, which Kusac deduced was due to her using her own healing ability.

  "They're bringing Jo and Davies to Shola, and you kept it from me?" said Carrie in disbelief.

  "Father actually told me yesterday but I wanted to talk to him about it before telling you," said Kusac, squatting back down on the sandy beach beside her. "If you want to see them, he'll arrange for them to be brought out here secretly. He wants us out of the public eye for as long as possible, and I agree with him."

  "What's going on?" she asked suspiciously, trying to push herself one-handedly up from among her nest of cushions. "Why are Jo and Davies coming to Shola?"

  Kusac's arm steadied her. "Father won't tell me."

  "Damn! I wan
t to know."

  "Don't worry," Kusac grinned, ears twitching. "I've got Kaid onto it. If anyone can find out, he can."

  "What would they want with two Terran guerrillas on Shola?"

  "Not just guerrillas. Don't forget that Davies is also a tech, so is Jo."

  "Jo's also a linguist, a Valtegan specialist, and has at least some small telepathic talent," she said slowly, thinking it through.

  "Valtegans?" said Kusac. "Perhaps that's the connection."

  "Could be. But why here? There're no Valtegans near here, are there? I know the Guild has found bones in the ruins, but they were left there centuries ago."