“Am I supposed to be impressed?” Dara said. “Big strong man, pounding a bulkhead?”
Mosam grunted as Yajain approached the door.
“I don’t care if I impress you or not, Doctor Merrant.”
Yajain pressed her back to the wall. Vertigo struck her. She squeezed her eyes shut and waited in the chill.
Mosam pressed a hand to the door with a clank.
“I’m going to check on her.”
“Not without me you won’t.”
“Do what you want.” Mosam slid the door open. Light spilled in on the floor in front of Yajain as she opened her eyes. Mosam took one step forward and froze, shadow cast in on the floor. “Yajain.” He put a hand on her shoulder.
She grabbed his wrist lightly.
“I’m alright. How long was I unconscious?”
Dara stepped into view.
“Twenty hours. You probably shouldn’t be up yet.”
Yajain pulled back from Mosam, releasing his wrist. She turned to Dara.
“I feel fine except for the pain drugs.”
Mosam frowned and stepped to the side. Dara crossed into the shadows of the room.
“You saved the Redoca,” she said.
“Good.” Yajain took a deep breath. “And the others?”
“We made it. Lord DiBaram got the worst of our group, but he’ll live.”
Yajain sighed with relief and walked to the bed. She sank down to sit on its edge.
“And the fleet?”
“They targeted DiKandar Hall,” Mosam said. “Took out her transit engines.”
“We’re still in the corridor, then.” Yajain looked up at Mosam. “Do you know how far it is to the end?”
“Plans changed.” Mosam walked to the foot of the bed near Yajain.
Dara nodded.
“We’re going to take the side corridor from Quelentra to the Yugha Cluster. “Kerida will have to wait.”
Yajain frowned.
“Why Yugha?”
“The tyrants knew we were on our way, but Redoca DiKandar has allies in Yugha.”
“Allies?”
“Exiled sorai. Dilinia classifies them as a rogue colony.” Mosam’s nose wrinkled. “Typical of them.”
“I see they’re letting you walk around free now,” Yajain said. “Why is that?”
His eyes flashed, and his brow darkened.
“Apparently even they realize who the real enemy is at the moment.”
Yajain shook her head.
“I can’t believe Pansar is allowing this.”
A small shadow stepped into the brightness of the doorway.
“When you hear the details of the current situation, perhaps you will understand.”
There stood Gellen Chakal.
The conference room near Castenlock’s bridge buzzed with the hubbub of officers talking to those around them. Yajain had only been in a few times during survey briefings, and now she stood in the lowered center of a room laid out like a circular theater with seats on three tiers up to the top of the chamber. Dara and Mosam stood behind her, on either side of a hologram projection of the cell where the captured tyrant was being kept. Firio walked to Yajain’s side as the room filled up.
“Glad to see you’re alright.”
“Thanks. I almost wasn’t.”
“So I saw. The Redoca spoke very highly of you.”
Yajain’s eyebrows raised.
“She changed her tune.”
“Saving her probably helped.” Firio’s face hinted a smile that vanished as he turned to the room at large. “Quiet down, people!”
The officers fell silent on command. Yajain scanned the seats and found Kebrim Ettasil and the other captains and officers of the rangers sitting near a group of a dozen or so people she realized were Ditari hunters. They all appeared uncomfortable without their armor.
Gellen spoke to Lord DiBaram whose arm was wrapped in a heavy cast. He nodded past Gellen to Yajain, a sudden smile on his face. She held his gaze.
Firio seemed satisfied with the quiet. He turned to Yajain and she broke her gaze from DiBaram.
“People,” she said. “My name is Yajain Aksari.” She looked back over the room, then motioned to the hologram of the cell. “This is the tyrant captured by the fleet at Sifar Pillar. He speaks our languages. And he is willing to tell us about his kind.” She almost used the word ‘people’ at the end, but decided against it. Best not to make the officers think she was sympathetic to the tyrant when she wasn’t.
This monster killed Ogidar.
Yajain turned to the hologram. She hit the control pad to change the hologram to two-way and said, “Greetings.”
“Greetings.” The edge of the tyrant’s lipless mouth curled back to reveal his teeth. “I am Rowuz, of the Third Cherdi Order.”
Yajain frowned inwardly. The tyrant had never mentioned a name before. She tried to hide her surprise.
“Tell us about Pontiff Morrott.”
Rowuz growled his harsh cursing sound before returning to the human trade language.
“Morrott has claimed all the Orders of Cherdi for his own. He claims to have had a chemical vision that showed him to claim the place you call Vilmanorin as the new seat of power for our nation. I was among those who defied him, and thus was assigned to the atonement force at Sifar.”
The officers looking on remained silent. Some faces looked stunned, others curious.
Mosam turned to the hologram.
“Tell them what you told me back on the hunter’s hall, about the Orders.”
The tyrant gnashed his teeth.
“Each Order provides warriors for Cherdi. We of the third order.” He made a sound deep in his throat. “In your language, our title is deceptive-courageous, operate in the shadows. Morrott has been able to use us as the vanguard of his invasion thanks to his stinging of our Overlord.”
Stinging. Tyrants can control other tyrants.
“Overlord?” Yajain asked.
“The head of the order. Each overlord commands the loyalty of thousands of legions.” Rowuz hissed. “Each legion, hundreds of thousands of tyrants.”
“Impossible,” Dara said softly. Then louder, “How could our explorator scans have missed a nation that size that close by?”
Rowuz gurgled, his voice almost smug.
“The Cherdi nation would have no border, but great gaps exist between our expanses and these you humans inhabit. The adjoining corridors are narrow, and far too long for even the ancients’ explorators to map.”
“Stop right there,” said Mosam. “The entire tyrant species is united.” Mosam strode to the front of the hologram He looked up at the officers in the room. “Humanity must stand together if we are to do battle with them.”
The officers in the audience started murmuring. Kebrim’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. Firio put a hand on Yajain’s shoulder and stepped forward to join Mosam.
“He may be right, people. Dilinia’s fleet is mobilizing even now to fight the rebels, but it will take them thirty changes or more to reach us here. Redoca DiKandar, Agent Pansar, and I have agreed to seek help from Yugha Cluster’s sorai colonies before we proceed to Kerida.”
Yajain frowned. But we are going to Kerida. We’re going to fight the tyrant’s in their chosen airspace. She turned to Rowuz.
“Why Vilmanorin?” she asked.
Rowuz spoke like thunder over the hubbub of the officers that followed Firio’s news.
“The Pontiff saw this place in his vision, a pillar of enormous diameter, six cores within its dark and frozen shell of crystal. This place is unlike any the Cherdi have seen before, but we do have words for its like. Origination. Paradise.”
Her eyes widened involuntarily.
“You’re people came from there?”
“Once all tyrants were one species when we dwelt in paradise.”
The officers settled into silence. Yajain stared at Rowuz’s
inhuman face, looking into his projected eye with the nostril at its corner. She clenched her fists. Yet more evidence supported the ancient beliefs of the Harvest. All of humankind had been one people. All tyrants had been one. Division happened after. Rowuz did not look at Yajain. He undulated his bulky slug-like body but said nothing.
Firio bowed his head, pensive.
Mosam whirled to face the hologram of the tyrant. His face twisted, half-lighted with awe, half-furrowed in rage. His mouth opened, but he did not seem able to form words.
Rowuz laughed a derisive acid sound.
“What’s wrong, holy human? Do you doubt your righteousness now?”
What awe had been in Mosam’s expression faded. He glared at the tyrant, eyes gleaming in green and full of rage.
“Shut up.”
“We are both prisoners,” said Rowuz. “I need not listen to you.”
“Be quiet.” Yajain stormed toward Mosam. “This is no time for your bias, Doctor Coe.”
“Yajain.” His glare broke and his gaze fell. He stepped out of her way.
Firio raised his head.
“That is all, people. I will meet with stations separately. Dismissed.”
Dara deactivated the hologram and image of Rowuz faded. Yajain stared up at Mosam’s face. He shook his head.
She scowled.
“What do you want to say?”
“I’d ask you to forgive me. But I know you won’t.” He turned his back on her without another word. Two MPs came to lead him away.
Yajain thought of Lin. She wouldn’t forgive Mosam either. How alike we are now.
The fleet soared through a bank of gray cloud, bringing Quelentra Hub into view through the watchroom window of Solnakite. Quelentra itself and two other nearby pillars served as a junction for changing course midway through linear transit, from Kerida to Yugha. Ships had to decelerate to Quelentra and then transit again, making Yugha the most isolated of the five large clusters on the frontier.
Yajain slouched in the seat by the table and remembered playing cards with Ogidar and the others there.
“Lousy posture,” said Rating Jalee Avencia from the entrance. “You should know better, doctor.”
Yajain glanced at the dark-skinned sorai woman in her gray and white uniform.
“What brings you here?”
“I have a message for you from Elder Vomont.”
“The old sorai leader from Toraxas Cluster?”
“Yes, doctor. He wishes to speak with you aboard Castenlock.”
“Me?” Yajain sat up. “Why?”
“He didn’t tell me.”
“I’ll need clearance from Captain Ettasil first.”
“I asked him already,” said Jalee. “You have it as soon as we arrive at Quelentra Hub.”
“Alright. I’ll do it when we get there.”
“Thank you, doctor.” Jalee turned to go, one hand on the frame of the watchroom’s door.
This is odd. Why does he want to talk to me when I barely know him?
“Wait a second,” Yajain said. “Why did the elder ask you to do this?”
“Do what?”
“Ask me to meet him.”
Jalee’s eyes darted to Yajain.
“I am one of his people.”
“But you signed on with the Dilinian fleet.”
“So did you.”
“I’m half nuinn. I was raised in Dilinia.” Yajain rose from her seat. “What makes people like you, or Cabler DiSayul join the force?”
Jalee’s face darkened with a scowl.
“I can’t speak for him, doctor. I thought joining would help them accept me.”
Yajain nodded.
“You think that’s good enough?” She sounded more caustic than she intended.
“I don’t care what you think, doctor. You don’t know me.” Jalee stepped into the passage and stormed away.
Yajain sighed and looked back out the window. Her hands had clenched into fists thinking about Ogidar again. Slowly she forced herself to open them, letting cool air from the climate system brush her palms.
Quelentra Hub grew larger out the window, gleaming with crisscrossed mooring docks where storm-tattered Dilinian banners hung. An arc flier ascended through the tangle of struts and walkways, gleaming bright and sparkling with condensation as a yellow solna shone upon it.
Castenlock passed Solnakite, red and silver. The explorer ship’s spiny flight systems flickered with blue electricity in places. Yajain turned from the window and headed for the tumbler bay.
Elder Vomont met Yajain at a booth in Castenlock’s domed bar. He had somehow requisitioned a shuttle to ferry her there from Solnakite. He sat, weathered hands pressed on the grip of a steel cane, and nodded to her as she approached, his sleek gray beard had grown and now hung to the middle of his chest. He smiled like a tuim, an animal known as the shelled cat.
“Doctor Aksari,” he said. “Glad you could see me.”
Yajain slipped into the booth across from Vomont, noticing a few of the sorai guards from the home of the elders who had come with them from Toraxas lurking nearby. Bodyguards? I shouldn’t be surprised. Vomont is an important elder.
She shifted her legs so her feet rested on the floor under the table.
“Why did you want to meet?” She sounded tired, even to herself. At least this mess took some of her attention off Mosam.
He put one hand on the table. The other stayed on the cane, keeping its point pressed to the tiled floor.
“There were two reasons.” He coughed into his fist, clearing his throat. “I’ve heard the tyrants tried to use a scanner to manipulate Sifar’s core.”
Yajain felt her eyebrows raise.
“Who told you about that?”
“Finder Boskem enjoys drinking but not as much as I do.”
“What else did he tell you?”
“Plenty. But aren’t you curious about the nature of that scanner? It’s being called a vosna apparently.”
He sounded smug. What do you really want old man?
Yajain folded her arms.
“Sounds like you already know more than me.”
“For the moment, perhaps,” said Vomont. “But I think you’ll want to hear my proposal.”
“Go on.”
“My old ally Csi Patla is the highest elder of the colony in Yugha cluster. She has an keen interest in scanners herself.” He smiled, and the feelers emerged from his eyebrows to wag in the air. “I would like to introduce you to her and her team of scanner researchers, but only if you are amenable.”
“Sounds like this doesn’t have much to do with the vosna.”
“But she will want to see those remains.”
“We brought them with us. I’m certain they’re well-preserved aboard this ship.” Yajain tapped her foot. He’s getting ready to make his demand.
“My dear doctor, if we can get those remains to Csi she will be very grateful. That could serve as the offering I—no, we need.”
“You said she was your old ally.”
“Old, yes. By the time the war ended we no longer saw eye to eye.”
“You want to make a deal with her?”
“I want to make peace, doctor.”
“I see.” Yajain frowned. “Alright, I’ll talk to the captain and Doctor Merrant about this.”
“I trust you will do your best to convince them.”
“It shouldn’t take too much.” Yajain stood.
“Not staying for a drink?” Vomont asked.
Yajain shrugged.
“I’ve got people to talk to and there may not be much time to do it.”
Vomont raised his glass to her and his eye feelers elevated slightly.
“To you, doctor.”
She turned and strode from the bar. The nagging presence of Vomont’s bodyguards lingered in her mind. I’ll have to keep my eye on that old man.
Yajain found Dara talking to the bando
jen siblings, Joth and Enna, outside Castenlock’s bridge. She hadn’t seen the two castaway bandojens in some time. Enna’s dark hair had grown but she’d tied it back into a long tail. Joth’s beard was trimmed shorter than when Yajain first met him, and his shell looked polished. His eyes narrowed and traced Yajain’s approach while Dara went on talking to him, her back to Yajain.
Enna saw her too, but she didn’t seem as hostile. She said something to Dara and pointed toward Yajain. Dara turned as Yajain drew closer.
“Yajain,” she said. “These two have been telling me some interesting things.”
“What kind of things?” Yajain asked.
“A lot about the core computers of Castenlock.” Dara smirked. “And a little about when you discovered Doctor Coe.”
“Dara…” Yajain shook her head. “Please don’t push this.”
“Are you going to tell me what made you angry at him?”
“Maybe later.” Yajain glanced at Joth and Enna, then back to Dara. “Right now I need to talk to you and Captain Gattri.”
Joth glowered at her. Enna eyed her brother from beside him, then turned brightly to Yajain.
“What’s going on, Doctor Aksari?”
These two are a problem, Yajain thought. Joth already doesn’t like me and he seems suspicious.
“Nothing I can talk about, sorry.”
Enna frowned.
“You’re being secretive again. Does this have something to do with Doctor Coe?”
“Why does everyone think I’m hung up on Mosam?” Yajain glared at Dara. “What have you been telling these two?”
“Nobody said that,” Dara said. “Well, you did just now.”
Yajain felt her cheeks grow hot.
“Dara, give it a rest. This is important.”
“Look, I’ll leave you alone for now, if you’ll tell me later.”
“Fine.” Yajain put fingers to her temples. “Fine.”
The doors of the bridge opened with a creak and grate of motion. Firio came through them, followed by two of his junior officers. He saw Yajain, Dara, Enna, and Joth and stopped so abruptly the junior officers bumped into each other.
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