Star Rider and the Golden Threads

by Heidi Skarie

  Toemeka held her breath. If they searched her more thoroughly, they’d find the matrix crystal and it would be all over. They’d torture her for information. Worse she wasn’t carrying a standard Coalition-issued suicide pill—Michio had heatedly objected to that.

  The human officer studied her and she let him see the genuine fear in her eyes. “I’ll take responsibility for releasing her,” he said. “We don’t need President Alenzata’s space fleet coming after us when we’re on an important mission.”

  The officers stared at each other for a tense moment, then the reptilian officer said, “I step down. It’s your scrawny human neck if Samrat Condor doesn’t like your decision.”

  “Take her back to her ship,” human officer said, glancing at the soldiers who’d brought her there.

  “Thank you,” Toemeka said to the officer, lowering her head in respect. She was surprised to discover that some of Samrat Condor’s officers were decent men. She followed the soldiers to the hall, then asked, “Who was that creepy reptilian guy? I don’t like him.”

  “General Gorgin. You’re lucky he let you go,” the Hinto soldier said. He seemed to be the leader of the four soldiers.

  “Yeah, he looked like he wanted to eat me for dinner. You know, I still need fuel. Can you guys help me out?”

  He frowned. “I don’t think there are any regulations against helping a civilian.”

  “It’s the least we can do for her inconvenience and it might smooth things over with her father,” said one of the soldiers who had a short, stocky build.

  “Great! By the way this ship is pretty cool. The biggest I’ve ever been on. How many men do you have on it anyway?” she asked, hoping the question sounded innocent.

  “One hundred thousand men and it’s heavily fortified with all the latest equipment,” the stocky soldier said in a proud sounding voice. It carries ten thousand small one-man fighters.”

  “Wow! Is this like your best ship or something?”

  “No, we’re part of a fleet of eight battle aircraft just like this one, but there are ten total,” the Hinto soldier said. “We left two on planet Alandra. We have the power to take over entire planets.”

  “Impressive. That Condor guy must be nearly as rich as my dad.” She stopped abruptly. They had reached her ship and some androids were searching it. “What are they doing? Do they think I’m smuggling dope or something?”

  The soldier nearest her laughed. “They aren’t concerned about that. They just want to be sure you’re not involved in the war.”

  “Me! The only thing interesting about war is a lot of men gathered together in one place and I’ve got plenty of them at home.”

  Once the androids finished their search and replaced the ship’s energy cell, Toemeka was allowed to board her ship. The disk under her ship rotated 180 degrees so her ship faced the landing bay door. The soldiers left the bay and the exit door opened. She started the twin engines, beginning to shake now that it was almost over, and flew toward freedom.

  A few hours later, Toemeka spotted a Coalition starship and decided to land on it rather than continuing to the Coalition space station. She didn’t want to risk being pulled aboard another Raptor starship—she doubted her luck would hold a second time. After receiving permission, she landed her ship in a large landing bay filled with fighters.

  Several soldiers approached her when she got off the ship. “Let’s see your ID,” one of them said, his eyes roving over her colorful flight suit and shiny high heeled boots.

  She pulled off her helmet, revealing her striped violet, hot pink and chartreuse hair, irritated by the way he was looking at her. “I’m on a mission so I’m only carrying a fake ID card.”

  “Let’s see it.”

  Annoyed at the delay, she handed him the ID card. “Here, but it’s only a cover. I’ve brought valuable information. I demand to see your commanding officer.”

  He scanned her ID card on a small, handheld computer. “So you’re Felicia Alenzata.”

  Toemeka snatched her ID crystal back, losing her patience. “I told you it’s fake! I’m here on official business from planet Borko. I’m Toemeka Kimes, Toemeka Ganti up until a few months ago. I’m a Coalition intelligence agent, so stop treating me like some mindless rich kid! I’m working with Major Erling Fenian who is in charge of the mission and is currently stationed in Borko.”

  “Have you heard of this Major Fenian, Cliff?” the soldier asked.

  “Nope, never heard of him or her. She sure doesn’t look like an agent to me—too young and she could never fly a combat ship.”

  “She’s definitely Felicia Alenzata,” a third soldier said. “I’ve seen lots of photos of her.”

  “I’m not Felicia and I’ll have you know I can outfly any of you!” Toemeka exclaimed.

  “We’d better search her before taking her to our superior,” the nearest soldier, said ignoring her outburst. “She could be armed. Felicia, raise your arms and spread your legs.”

  She stared at him, not about to comply when he was treating her so rudely. He slid his hands under her arms. She brought the edges of her hands down and smashed them into his arms, breaking his hold, then wrapped her leg around his and tripped him. He fell to the ground with a thud. Three other soldiers moved in and pinned her against the ship, then searched her. “She’s clean,” one of the soldiers said.

  “Release her,” a man said, coming over to them. Toemeka couldn’t see him, because he was behind the soldiers surrounding her, but the deep, smooth voice was impossible to mistake. Relief flooded through her—the voice belonged to one of her close friends.

  “I don’t think we should, sir. She put up a fight when we tried to search her.”

  “Maybe you frightened her, now move.” The soldiers moved warily aside and Toemeka found herself looking into Jake Navarro’s striking, dark blue eyes.

  He looked stunned, then his face broke into a grin. “Toemeka?” His voice sounded uncertain.

  “Hi, Jake.”

  He glanced at the soldiers. “She’s a field agent. Fun’s over. Get back to work.” Jake’s eyes returned to Toemeka, then he closed the space between them and embraced her. “It’s good to see you, Tiger.”

  “It’s been awhile,” she replied. The smell of his cologne and familiar feel of being wrapped in his arms brought back a flood of memories. She stepped awkwardly away from him.

  “Four months, two weeks and five days, but who’s counting? I like the new look.”

  “Don’t give me a hard time, Jake. This is my undercover disguise. I’m posing as Felicia Alenzata.”

  “Why are you risking your life by flying in a war zone on a civilian ship?”

  “I’m reporting in after my latest mission.”

  They began walking toward a row of tube cars. The smell of fuel and an edgy feeling of excitement and danger permeated the place. She missed being part of it—doing something she believed in so strongly. She missed the adrenaline rush of leaving for a new mission.

  “How have you been, Jake?” Toemeka knew he would have been at the heart of the battle to save Coalition headquarters on Jelmur, his country, and planet Alandra—all of which were lost now.

  “All right, and you?”

  It registered to her that he hadn’t revealed anything. There was a time when he would have confided in her. “I’m doing well,” she answered, not opening up either. She moved to safer grounds. “Erling appreciated you checking up on his family.”

  “I was glad to do it; they’re good people.”

  “Who’s in charge here?”

  “Commander Quintary.”

  “Would you take me to see him?”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “He’s a busy man these days and doesn’t see just anyone.”

  “He’ll see me.”

  “Must be an important mission,” Jake said, draping his arm around her.

  “It is,” she replied, pushing his arm off. “I’m married now, Jake.”

  “So I heard, but not from you.
You didn’t even bother to tell me.”

  “We were broken up. There was no reason to tell you.”

  His eyes held hers. “We quarreled. I thought we could work it out.”

  “I told you it was over. Some things can’t be forgiven.”

  “So I discovered.” They walked the rest of the way to the tube car in silence and boarded. “How’s Erling?” Jake asked.

  “He was wounded by a poisoned blade in a sword fight. He nearly died, but was given an antidote in time and is now recovering.”

  “A fight, huh; over a woman?”

  “As a matter of fact, it was. You’re going to have to cruise the bars alone ‘cause Erling’s roving days will soon be over.”

  “Another good man crashes and burns. Who’s the lucky girl?” The tube car stopped. They both got off and headed down the hall.

  “Queen Koriann Marsindi, ruler of Jaipar on planet Borko.”

  Jake whistled. “Impressive. I’ll bet she’s rich.”

  “Beautiful too, but that’s not the reason he’s marrying her. This may come as a surprise, but he’s marrying for love. In fact, I don’t think he’s looking forward to the responsibility of being a sovereign.”

  “Now, Toemeka, I’m not as hardhearted as you think. I know Erling wouldn’t marry for anything other than love and I’m sure he’d rather be out having a good time than ruling a country. Well, here we are—Commander Quintary’s office. How about having supper with me later?”

  “I hope to leave for home by then, but I suppose that’s wishful thinking. I should probably get a good night’s sleep first.”

  “So, is that a yes?”

  She knew she should say no. Instead she said, “I guess so.”

  They entered Commander Quintary’s outer office. An attractive woman with short dark hair sat at the desk.

  “I’m Toemeka Ganti Kimes. I ’d like an audience with Commander Quintary.”

  When the woman looked up Toemeka realized she was a gynoid, a female android. “I’ll contact him,” she said. She pushed a button on his intercom and relayed Toemeka’s message. The door opened a moment later.

  “Toemeka?” Commander Quintary said, his voice a question rather than a statement. His eyes swept from her wildly-dyed hair to her purple flight suit before returning to her face.

  “It’s her.” Jake chuckled.

  “You sure it’s not Felicity Alenzata?”

  “I’m sure.” Jake wore an amused grin.

  “You’d know if anyone would. Thanks for escorting her, Jake. Why don’t you join us for the debriefing?”

  Once inside, the commander shut the door and studied Toemeka’s disguise more closely.

  “You look just like President Alenzata’s daughter. I met her once at her father’s mansion. The stylist who transformed you did a great job. How did you manage to get here safely? The space route between planet Borko and planet Alandra is full of Raptor starships.”

  “I flew on a private spacecraft. I’m reporting in after Erling and my latest uncover mission. We succeeded in our objective.”

  His eyes lit up. “The mission was a success?”

  “Yes.” She was glad to bring him good news. He’d aged noticeably since she’d last seen him, with new lines at the corner of his eyes and more gray hairs at his temples. Losing the war on Alandra had taken its toll.

  Commander Quintary said to Jake, “Erling and Toemeka were sent to the Raptor base on planet Flo Shah to obtain strategic information.”

  Jake’s square chin hardened and he glared at the commander. “They shouldn’t have been sent there. It was too dangerous. The last team you sent disappeared.”

  “Major Renheart, my job is ordering men and women into battle and on dangerous missions every day. I can’t make exceptions for your friends. Now sit.”

  Jake testily sat across from the Commander who sat behind a metal desk. Toemeka took the remaining chair beside Jake.

  “Toemeka, where’s the information you brought?” Commander Quintary asked.

  She removed her barrette and handed it to him. “Here it is.”

  He examined it with a puzzled expression, then pulled off the top. “Oh, it’s a matrix crystal. I’ll send it in for analysis right away.” He spoke into his intercom then returned his attention to Toemeka.

  “A team in Jaipar on planet Borko already began analyzing the information,” Toemeka said. “I can share the results while you run your own analysis.”

  Before Quintary could reply, the door opened and the gynoid receptionist came in. Quintary gave her the matrix crystal and explicit instructions. Toemeka watched the gynoid leave with misgivings. She didn’t like entrusting a machine with information she’d risked her life for.

  They spent the next few hours discussing what Toemeka learned on Flo Shah, the situation on Borko, including Jaipar being at war with Haklute, and what she learned when she was pulled aboard the Raptor starship. She also mentioned that Erling would be resigning from the Coalition since he was engaged to marry Queen Koriann and had become the head of the military on planet Borko.

  By the time she’d finished, Toemeka’s lack of sleep was catching up to her and she put a hand in front of her mouth to suppress a yawn.

  “Toemeka’s exhausted,” Jake said. “She had a long flight and was hauled aboard a Raptor battle starship. Can we discuss this further after she’s had a chance to eat and rest?”

  “I’m fine,” Toemeka snapped, annoyed that he’d intervened on her behalf as if he were still personally involved with her.

  “Jake has a point. Ask my secretary to assign you a cabin, Toemeka. Jake can show you where it’s located, then take you to the mess hall.”

  “I’ll only need a cabin for a short time. I intend to return to Jaipar as soon as I get some sleep. I want to be there before the Raptor air fleet attacks.”

  “It’s too dangerous. Our starship is going to planet Borko. You can rejoin your team when we reach the Borko Alliance space station.”

  Fuming, Toemeka didn’t reply. She didn’t intend to be stuck here when the Raptor air fleet was about to attack Jaipar.

  “Those are direct orders, so don’t even think about breaking them.”

  As much as Toemeka wanted to disobey, she knew there was wisdom in Quintary’s decision. Moreover, she didn’t want to end up a plaything for that repulsive reptilian officer.

  “I’d like to contact the military commander in Jaipar to let him know I’ve delivered the information, but am presently detained.”

  “I can’t allow you to send a communication. The Raptors could intercept the message, trace it back to our starship and track us down.”

  “There must be some way to send it without being traced,” she insisted. Michio would be concerned when she didn’t return to Jaipar.

  “We’re on complete radio silence. While you’re here, I’m assigning you to the team that will be analyzing the information you delivered. Jake, you’ll be the team leader. We need to find something on that matrix crystal to help us defeat Condor’s air fleet and save planet Borko.

  “The Coalition is a skeleton of what it was. Most of our personnel were killed and our air fleet destroyed in the initial attack on Headquarters and in the war that followed.”

  He looked from Toemeka to Jake. “And don’t stay up all night catching up. You’ll both start working first shift tomorrow morning at the computer center. Information will be downloaded and organized by then. You’re dismissed.” His attention switched to the papers on his desk and Toemeka stood, her cheeks flushed from his reference to her and Jake “staying up all night catching up.” He either didn’t know or didn’t remember that she and Jake had split up and she was married.

  Quintary looked up. “Before you go, Toemeka, I want to congratulate you on a successful mission. We’re glad to have you back on active duty.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Toemeka left the room with Jake and got a room assignment from the gynoid. She was given a cabin three other women already occupied
. Private rooms were a rarity on a starship for all but the highest-ranking officers.

  On the way to her cabin, she and Jake stopped at the clothing supply room so she could pick out a few everyday uniforms, a formal uniform, boots, shoes and a flight suit. All the clothes she’d brought with her were inappropriate attire that Felicia Alenzata might wear. The only things she could use were the stylish, rich-girl lingerie. She hadn’t risked carrying anything that might give away her true identity.

  She and Jake parted at the door to her cabin. He agreed to return in a half-hour to take her to the mess hall. The room was small and bare except for four lockers and two sets of bunk beds. She stored her clothes in the only empty locker, then went to the communal woman’s restroom and showered. Colored water flowed into the drain as she scrubbed off her face paint and hair dye. The water stopped and hot air blew over her. She stepped out of the shower and dressed in one of the casual uniforms, a blue, long-sleeved shirt and black pants made of a comfortable stretch fabric.

  Back in the room, she sat on the floor with her legs crossed under her and began to chant shonu, focusing her attention on Michio. The outer world faded as she went deep into a trance. Inwardly she called Michio’s name while continuing to concentrate on him. She sent out an inner message that she was safe and hoped he received it on some level.

  A rap on the door startled Toemeka, jolting her back into her body. Unsettled from being disturbed during contemplation, she opened the door to find Jake standing there with her flight bag. She suppressed her irritation, appreciating his thoughtfulness in retrieving her bag.

  “I see you washed out the hair dye and lost the rich-girl clothes,” he said. “You look like your old self again.”

  “I feel like my old self.”

  “Let’s go eat.” He set her bag inside the door.

  24

  Master Bakka

  Erling found Koriann in the hallway as she was about to go into a meeting with her top generals. “Kori, Mich and I are leaving for the village of Kumba now,” he said.

  She drew closer, her blue eyes filled with concern. “Are you sure you feel well enough for the trip?”