Shield of Drani (World of Drani Book 1)

by Melonie Purcell

  “Yes, Lorelis. Someone did. Someone with enough authority to move around the planet without being questioned.” Nevvis realized he was clenching his fist and forced himself to relax. “We both know who’s always watching me, but who is watching you?”

  Lorelis laughed and started the stick twining again. “Well played, Little One, and excellent point. I don’t think you are the traitor, but I do think you underestimated the dangers involved in allowing your Arlele to leave the planet.”

  “I didn’t…” Nevvis paused and drew in a slow, deep breath. “Would you just make your point?”

  “If she goes willingly to the Shreet, her knowledge, cooperation, and genetics could be our undoing. On the other hand, she is the best bait we could hope for in finding the real traitors. They will be drawn to her like a wave to the beach.” Lorelis tossed the card onto the table. “If you had better control of her, you could make her into a spy for Drani. As it is, she can at least be our shield. Bring in some help and flush out the unfriendlies. Perhaps that’s what you were planning when you arranged for her abduction in the first place.”

  This time, Nevvis didn’t bite. “You’re starting to ramble. I understand that happens with age.”

  “The arrogance of youth.” He pulled out the closest chair, scooped the stack of reader cards onto the floor, and sat. “Taymar is dangerous. She should have been termed long ago. And if she was dangerous before, she is doubly so now. She knows too much.”

  “Don’t worry. Those weren’t in any particular order. Just toss them on the floor.” Lorelis didn’t even blink, so Nevvis stacked them into a neat pile as he continued. “What knowledge? She’s been in almost complete isolation for over five years. I never thought I would say this, but I think you’re overreacting.”

  “Someone is going to use that girl. It needs to be us. You need to find her. Use it as an excuse to get us in front of the Alliance.”

  “What?” Nevvis sat up. “Not sure I heard that right. Did you say you wanted us in front of the Alliance? Are you admitting I was right about needing a treaty with them?”

  “In light of the raid, I’ll admit that I may have been shortsighted,” Lorelis said with a minute shrug. “But I’m not ready to dance our planet naked around their bonding bed. If we make an arrangement of some sort with them, it needs to be in our favor.”

  Nevvis squeezed his eyes shut against the vulgar imagery. “I’m sure Targer can make the appropriate arrangements. Assuming they still want to negotiate a treaty.”

  “Oh, they will. I have secured a source that has information on that time flux they are using to build the space station. They might even have information on the station itself. I am sure that will help the Alliance overlook our earlier reluctance to intertwine our destinies.”

  “You what?”

  Lorelis didn’t answer. He just kicked his feet out and crossed his boots.

  “How in the name of three moons do you have information on the flux that is half a galaxy away?” Nevvis eyed Lorelis with renewed suspicion. “How do you even know about the flux? It still hasn’t been confirmed.”

  “Well, I might have a source that took in a Shreet ship that was looking to disappear.” He wobbled his head a bit. “I probably do. They were on their way here, but with the raid, my source had to divert their course. I haven’t actually heard from them in a while, though.”

  “Do you trust your source?”

  “Try not to embarrass yourself. Of course I don’t trust them. I don’t trust you and I know what side of the bed you sleep on, but it is enough that we even have a source. The Alliance will want to see this out.”

  Nevvis refused to let his mind take up that hunt, tempting as it was. And true as it could very well be. “You didn’t answer my question. How did you come by this source?”

  Lorelis smiled and picked at an invisible flaw in the chair’s armrest. “The Shreet didn’t build that monstrosity without help, and not all of that help took a spacewalk when they finished. And not all Shreet are eager to go to war. Let’s just say it is amazing what people will do for fuel.”

  They sat in silence while Nevvis wrestled with the idea that Lorelis may have singlehandedly and in total secrecy obtained logistics on the one thing that was enabling the Shreet to gain a foothold in this section of the galaxy. And he had done it without ever leaving the planet. The man was terrifying. And a genius.

  “Okay,” Nevvis said, finally digesting the full impact of all that Lorelis had said—and not said. “But I see no need to go off-planet myself, whether it’s to bring Taymar back or otherwise. I don’t need to be there for that.”

  “You’re not listening, Nevvis. Of all the Arleles to be off-planet, that’s the wrong one. You need to go secure her. Besides, Targer doesn’t have the authority to finalize this treaty, and we don’t have time for the back and forth it will take if you send him as the negotiator. You wanted it, now go make it.”

  “And you’re not thinking, Lorelis. I’m Kitalku. How do I explain to the Council that I need to take a little run off-planet at a time like this?”

  “You’re Kitalku; you don’t have to explain. But, your point is well taken. Would you rather I went after Taymar? I have the authority and the ability to negotiate a decent treaty. And while I’m gone, you can prepare young Kranolis for his early initiation into the Council, seeing as how Erus got himself killed in the raid.”

  For a long moment, Nevvis only stared. That he had been played was obvious. The question was why? Lorelis’s feelings for most Arleles bordered on hatred, and Taymar was the rule rather than the exception. The chances of Lorelis and Taymar both making it home alive were almost nonexistent. But that wasn’t where this was going anyhow. “You have no interest in bringing Taymar home, do you?” Nevvis asked, putting all of the pieces together. “You want the Alliance to go get that info on the flux for you. And for me to use Taymar as a weapon to destroy that station. That’s the basic gist here, isn’t it?”

  “You are a bit slow at times, but you do manage to bring it home in the end.”

  Nevvis drew in a long, slow breath and hoped that his mouth hadn’t been hanging open for long.

  Lorelis smiled. “Good. I’ll make the appropriate arrangements. If it will make you feel any better, I’ll try to keep you on-planet as long as possible.” Without another word, he stood, made a show of pushing his chair back under the table, and scanned himself out of the office. As Nevvis watched him leave, he shook his head in disbelief. The man had made it look easy.

  ###

  The viewer on Taymar’s left flashed through another series of numbers and symbols that meant nothing to her. It had been doing it the entire trip, the entire eternally long trip-of-death trapped in a dark tube with no windows.

  Being in the shuttle wasn’t unlike being locked in solitary confinement. Only this time, when she got out, she would be free to go and do whatever she liked. At least, that was the way her fantasy ended. There were, of course, other options. Like dying in space or being imprisoned on Daryus or being picked up by an Alliance ship and returned to Drani. But she liked her ending better, so that’s what she imagined as she struggled to keep herself awake.

  She hit the reload symbol on her viewer and watched as the computer set up another puzzle. It probably had other games, but she hadn’t managed to find them. The panel beside her flashed again and then the computer beeped.

  “Destination immanent.”

  Taymar blinked at the viewer. “Not helpful. What does that mean?”

  The computer remained silent. They had only been speaking the Alliance’s language, Universal, on Drani for a couple of years. Even though she had gone through two full transfers, oftentimes the language just didn’t make sense. “Computer, define destination immanent.”

  The shuttle jumped. Taymar grabbed her restraint harness and started jerking it into place. “Destination—a location or place…”

  “Cancel. Cancel.” She activated the last fastener. “I figured it out.” T
he shuttle jerked again.

  “Incoming communication from the planet’s surface. Do you wish to allow?”

  She paused. What choice did she have? “Yes.”

  A male voice boomed into the small ship. “Alliance shuttle. You have entered Daryus space without authorization. Depart immediately or you will be fired upon.”

  “Why does everyone want to shoot at me?” Taymar mumbled, glancing over at the readings on the viewer. They still meant nothing. She hit the flashing icon and hoped for the best. “This is the Alliance shuttle. I can’t depart. I don’t have enough fuel, and I don’t think I have enough air. I need to land.”

  “Shuttle, send down your Alliance authorization code.”

  “Um, I don’t exactly know what it is. I don’t have a pilot.”

  “Repeat.”

  This could be going better, she thought. “I don’t have a pilot.”

  The com went silent for several pounding heartbeats. When it came on again, the new voice sounded even more hostile than the first. “Shuttle, release controls of your ship and submit to our guidance system.”

  So, so much better. “What controls? I don’t have any controls in here.”

  “Shuttle, prepare for descent. Don’t touch anything.”

  Now that she could do. The computer wasn’t as agreeable. “Access to onboard flight controls attempted from planet surface. Allow remote access?”

  “Yes.”

  Her teeth chattered, and even though she told herself it was from the vibrating shuttle, she wasn’t completely sure. The shuttle had plenty of material she could shape into a knife, but she decided to step onto Daryus empty-handed. Besides, a knife would be no help against whatever weapon they would have, and no doubt about it, they would have plenty of weapons.

  After several more swerves and bumps that made Taymar thankful for the harness, the shuttle finally smoothed out, slowed, and eventually powered down. All of the lights inside flooded on, and without her doing anything, the pilot door and the sliding shuttle door both opened.

  Beams of light shone directly into her eyes, making it impossible for her to see anything, but her telepathy told her at least fifteen hostile people were waiting for her to attack.

  “Hands on your head!” one voice yelled. “Fingers laced together.”

  She did as instructed while one of the others released a small hovering bot into the shuttle. With little effort, Taymar found the mind of the Daryan reading the bot’s reports. Thankfully, they were in Universal, so she followed along as his handheld readout told him the shuttle was clean. Finally, the fist-size ball hovered in front of her face, blocking the beam of blinding light from the nearest Daryan’s weapon. A tiny panel opened on the ball. Taymar held dead still as a thin triangle of red light shot out and scanned her entire body.

  Arlele? the man holding the readout thought. He knew something about Arleles, but he couldn’t remember it. Drani…Drani… All at once his mind filled with excitement. Are you a telepath? he thought directly at Taymar.

  Even though the little ball blocked the beam of light, Taymar still couldn’t see the person who had sent to her, but she could feel his mind clearly enough to know that he most certainly was not a telepath. However, he sure hoped she was, and she didn’t intend to disappoint him. Nor did she intend to give away her telekinesis just yet. “Yes, I am.”

  The man’s entire demeanor changed. “Lower your weapons.” The confusion of the others rang out in their minds, but they followed the direction. The small bot zipped away, but the beam of light did not return, confirming that it was night on Daryus. To Taymar, he said, “Step out of the shuttle.”

  “Can I put my hands down because I have this harness thing on?”

  “Tovas, help her out and search her. Mi, notify command we may have a refugee from Drani—a telepathic refugee from Drani—and that we need a priority level 10 wipe of her arrival on planet. Dorniplav and Yolni, keep three each and stay here with Mi. Once Mi gets clearance for the wipe, take care of this shuttle. The rest of you are with me.”

  After a round of mental shock at Taymar’s telepath status and several verbal yes, sirs, the group scattered. Tovas pulled himself up to the opening and smiled. His protruding brow; wide, flat nose; and lack of hair made him look like an IVO that had been kicked in the face. He didn’t seem to notice her staring at him as he released the harness and helped her out of the shuttle. Once he had finished searching her as thoroughly as any kar, he led her over to the man she now knew to be called Pakus.

  Even though the area around the ship was well lit, total darkness made the surrounding area impossible to see. Pakus stared, his narrowly slit eyelids barely moving under his sharp, bulging brow. Like Tovas, Pakus had no eyebrows. In fact, he had no hair anywhere. Well, nowhere she could see. He was taller than Tovas, but still nowhere near as tall as Nevvis. And nowhere near as intimidating. So, you are an actual telepath? Not an empath? His attempt at sending was loud and distorted, but that was normal for a non-telepath. He was still easy enough to read.

  “I am a telepath. I don’t know what an empath is.”

  Then why are you talking instead of thinking back to me?

  Taymar frowned at him. “Because you’re not a telepath, and it’s called sending, not thinking. Are you trying to tell me you think you’re a telepath?”

  Pakus finally smiled. “Definitely not, but you sure are, and I am so glad you decided to crash on Daryus. Please come with me. Are you hungry or thirsty?”

  Now that she wasn’t expecting, even in her best-case scenario. Taymar smiled back. “Actually, I’m both. I don’t think that shuttle was meant to come this far. And I really need to use a waste room.”

  “Let’s see what we can do to make you comfortable.” He turned and started walking toward the source of the light, another type of shuttle. This one was green, round, and smaller than the black one she had flown in on. “I didn’t introduce myself. My name…”

  “Pakus.” Taymar peered out into the darkness. She seemed to be on some sort of massive platform. Even though the others no longer held weapons on her, she noticed they still formed a loose circle as they continued toward the waiting shuttle. “I didn’t exactly crash, right?”

  “Well, that will depend on what you decide to do. I am a security minister for the ITC here on Daryus, and I am sure that the regents will gladly offer a telepathic crash survivor asylum. Probably lucrative employment as well. I am also sure they will not be able to make a similar offer to a wanted criminal of any kind.” He paused in front of the ramp leading into the green shuttle. “I am sure you understand.”

  “Actually, I didn’t understand most of what you said, but I do get your meaning. I’m sure glad I wasn’t hurt in the crash.”

  Pakus laughed and motioned for her to enter the shuttle. “Not as glad as the regents will be when they find out you are a full telepath. We’ll be at ITC Command in a few moments. What’s your name?”

  She paused. For a moment she considered changing it, but in the end it seemed useless. If Nevvis could trace her all the way to Daryus, changing her name certainly wasn’t going to help once he got here. “Taymar. My name is Taymar.”

  “Well, Taymar, welcome to Daryus. Let me help you with your harness, and we will be on our way.”

  ###

  Urvo stood at the brae’s door, trying to summon the nerve to push the announcer. Unfortunately, the door opened long before he was ready.

  “Enter. I understand our informant is securely on the station.” The brae stood before a holographic map of quad nine.

  “Yes, sir. I also sent you the full file of his debrief in Universal, and translated it back into Klsikit.”

  “I watched it. SirukiRoe did well. Pass on my acknowledgement of her work.”

  “I will, sir.”

  “I wish I could say the same for the Roe who flew the transport shuttle with all of our samples.” Yitt slid his hand into the holograph and rotated the map. A string of numbers running alongside the
projection adjusted in response. “We lost the samples and two ships, thanks to him.”

  Urvo swallowed hard and struggled to control his breathing. The last thing he needed was to flash white braids in front of the brae.

  “Hand me my over shirt,” Yitt said, finally turning to Urvo. “Can you explain how four panels of high-quality brakeal cylinders and a power core managed to explode in Alliance space?”

  Urvo unhooked the shirt from its spot on the wall and crossed over to where the brae stood, frowning once again at the map. “Actually, sir, I think I can.”

  Yitt’s dark stare locked on Urvo as he took the intricately adorned knee-length white tunic.

  “The Dran seems very concerned that a particular Arlele did not accompany him on the darit. He says that she has special talents that would be of use to us, and although I have not spoken to him directly, I believe that she may be the reason we lost that ship.”

  “Are you telling me we had a dual-talent shoved onto a transport ship?”

  “Sir? You know about the dual-talent Arlele?”

  The brae pulled the shirt over his head and secured the belt. Hair or no hair, he made a formidable figure in his full command regalia. “I didn’t know there was a dual-talent in Newete. Find out what you can about this Arlele, and see if you can get to her before the Alliance does.”

  “I took the liberty of starting that search already, sir. Right now, our parameters are too large. However, Drani has requested assistance from the Alliance in finding her, and they have sent the Regal.”

  “Really?” Yitt swiped the map back onto the viewer. “Now, that is good to hear,” he said as he adjusted the cords that hung across his shoulders. Before Urvo could agree, the brae turned his full attention back to him. “They will request a telepath.”

  “Sir?”

  Turning, Yitt swiped the map up onto a wall and expanded one section featuring the Alliance starship Regal. “The Alliance will send one of their telepaths to meet with the Dran. That could be a problem.”

  Urvo silently chastised himself. How was he ever going to prove his worth to the brae if he kept missing important details? “What would you like me to do, sir?”