by Neal Jones
And it wasn't as if Messani could leave the tower to go shopping in the market, or simply take a walk around the neighborhood to clear her mind. Even if there wasn't the threat of violence from religious extremists like the one who had attempted to kill her daughter a week earlier, Messani's fame as the Mother of the Emissary ensured that she would never again be able to pass through a market square without being mobbed by worshipers with requests for prayers of blessing. If she needed to leave the cathedral grounds for any reason, she now had to go with a squad of conclave guards and at least two servants to attend her.
"Am I a guest or a prisoner?" she murmured to herself, and then laughed softly.
Mirril, who was returning with a cup and saucer in hand, stopped short of the balcony threshold, startled by the sound. "Your tea, Holy Mother?"
Messani turned. "Thank you."
"Is there anything else you require?"
"Would you like to sit with me and watch the sunset?"
The girl appeared terrified at such a prospect, and Messani waved her away. "Never mind. It's all right. No, I don't require anything more right now."
That night, unable to sleep, Messani crept downstairs to the main floor and through the front hall. A pair of guards were stationed outside the tower's entrance, and one of them held up a hand when he saw her leaving.
"Is there some way I can assist you, Holy Mother?"
"No," she replied, masking her irritation with a calm tone. "I would like to go to the cathedral to meditate and pray."
"Very well. I will summon a guard to accompany you."
"No," Messani stated firmly. "I am the Mother of the Emissary. I understand you have your orders, lieutenant, but I am not leaving the cathedral grounds. I'm just going to that building right there." She pointed over her shoulder to the immense façade of stone and glass behind her. "You have portable security scanners, do you not?"
"Yes."
"Then you should be able to keep track of me and know whether or not I am alone. As long as I am alone, you have nothing to worry about."
"Yes, Holy Mother. As you wish."
"Thank you."
The sanctuary was huge, and empty, and dark. Messani tiptoed inside, feeling at once small and lost. The moon, half obscured by the clouds, cast only a few shafts of pale luminescence through the tall windows on the south side of the auditorium. It was just enough for Messani to see by, and she crept around to the front of the altar and knelt. Somewhere, high in the shadows, the faces of the Varashok peered down at her with eyes of stone.
"In the name of the Father, and the name of the Mother; by the sword of the Warrior and the virtue of the Maiden," she intoned softly. "By the light of the Priest, who shows us our way; bless me in your name, and look upon me now with favor and mercy." Messani hesitated. She felt heavy, and her breath caught in her throat. All of her anxiety, her fear, her uncertainty about the future – everything that had been building inside of her for the last two months suddenly threatened to break loose in one overflowing gush, and she felt powerless to stop it.
So this time she didn't. The rest of her prayer was drowned in a flood of tears, and Messani crumpled to the marble floor, weeping into her sleeve, silently pouring out her heart to the gods.
The clouds moved again, slowly, passing over the moon entirely, and the sanctuary melted into darkness. Messani wept for what seemed like hours, and then a strange, extraordinary sense of calm descended upon her, like a warm blanket that enfolded her entire being, and she felt as if an internal switch had been flipped. Every last ounce of strength left her, and her eyes suddenly felt very heavy. She laid her head against the cold floor and slept.
This time, there were no dreams.
Ten hours later, when she awoke at last, the morning sun was streaming through the windows, tiny motes of dust dancing in the ethereal light, and Messani had a brief, panicked moment when she couldn't remember where she was. She rose, gathering her night coat about her, and then remembered her prayer at the altar. She looked up at the stone faces of the Varashok and smiled. She felt as if she had slept for days, and that strange sense of calm that had come upon as she wept still enveloped her. She still felt some worry about the future, about her daughter's safety, but now that was tempered by the sense of calm. Her anxiety, her fears about her own future, her restlessness – all of it was gone. Messani wasn't sure whether it was just the release of a good, long cry, or the hand of Varashok, but she finally had something that she had been seeking ever since Faero's death many years ago.
She was finally at peace.
( 3 )
Jennifer lowered herself into the chair, self consciously putting a hand over the slight bump of her belly. She wasn't quite at five months, but, just as with Emalie, she had begun to show early, and she could already tell that this one was going to carry high also.
"Are you all right?" Mariah asked, reaching for a menu.
"I'm fine. My back hurts a little, though. I'm not used to being on my feet all day." She tapped a command into the table's pad, ordering an iced tea with lemon. "What do you want to drink?"
"Water's fine."
"Thanks for lunch," Jennifer said, perusing the menu.
"You're welcome. How's it feel being back in school?"
"I like it. I'm substituting for first grade today, and they're keeping me on my toes."
Mariah laughed and nodded. "I'll bet." The waiter arrived with their drinks, and she ordered a club sandwich.
"I'll have the artichoke pasta, but with no green peppers, please," Jennifer said. "And extra sauce on the side. Thanks." After the waiter left, she said, "I've been craving alfredo sauce for the last couple days."
"That's all? When I was carrying Josh I had a craving for tuna and peanut butter sandwiches."
"Gross! Although, peanut butter and some of those Murdohn noodles that we had the other day for lunch sound good."
Mariah made a face, and then joined in Jennifer's laughter.
"So..." The science officer reached for a breadstick. "How are things between you and Ben?"
"Better. Definitely better. I don't think I'll ever really be happy living here, though. He promised that his next posting would be the academy if there was a teaching position available, but..." She shrugged. "I don't know. If he does decide that he wants to go somewhere else, then he's doing it alone. The kids and I are going to be back on Earth in a couple years, no matter what."
Mariah nodded. "Won't that be harder, though, if he does accept a posting to a ship or another starbase? Wouldn't you rather be with him all the time instead of only seeing him once a year?"
Jennifer frowned as she toyed with her napkin, twisting it around her fingers. "I've thought of that, too, but I just can't take this anymore. It's driving me crazy moving from one posting to the next. Like this right here – you and me having lunch. I'm glad that you and I have become friends, but in a couple years I'll be gone, and if Ben decides to accept a posting on another starbase, then I'll have to make friends all over again. I'll have to find a new job, Emalie will have to transfer to another school, and the cycle starts all over again. I can't take it. I just can't." She sighed and looked up. "Do you think that's selfish of me? He's right after all. I did marry him, knowing full well what being a military wife was going to be like."
"I think, at a certain point, you have to do what makes you happy."
"Yeah, I keep telling myself that." She shook her head glumly. "Enough about me. How are things with you and Marc?"
Mariah shrugged as she swallowed her bite of breadstick. "We're still friends. We had dinner again the other night. He talked about his plans with Laura after retirement."
"Does that bother you?"
Mariah reached for another breadstick. "I just don't see him going through with it. When I knew him ten years ago he said he would never retire, and that he was going to make admiral before he was fifty. Apparently his father made admiral when he was fifty-two. And now Marc's giving up on that dream." She frowned,
shaking her head. "It's as if none of this matters anymore." She shrugged again and took another bite of her breadstick. "He's really changed in the last few weeks. I don't know. It just seems a little...weird, I guess. I keep trying to picture him without the uniform, sitting in a backyard somewhere and sipping a brandy." She laughed. "It just doesn't seem right."
Jennifer nodded, smiling. "Well, having your ex-girlfriend show up with the daughter you never you knew you had can be life-altering. And like you said, we all have to do what makes us happy. Maybe the military career isn't enough for him anymore."
The waiter arrived with their orders, and Mariah nodded thoughtfully as she picked up her sandwich. "I guess so," she replied.
As Mariah and Jennifer finished their lunch, Lieutenant Howard and Navarr were also sharing food and gossip on the other side of the restaurant.
"So..." Dana said, dipping a forkful of lettuce and tomato into her side of dressing, "When were you going to tell me that you and Sam slept together?"
Chris sighed, rolling her eyes. "Why bother? You already know we did." But she fought back a smile as she bit into her BLT.
"Well, yeah, but now I want the details. I'm living vicariously through you, remember?"
"I heard you had a date last night."
"Uh-uh, don't change the subject. We'll talk about me later. I want to hear all about Doctor Sam."
"Dana, I'm not giving you any details, so just knock it off."
But Dana could read her friend's expression and she leaned forward, putting aside her fork for the moment. "You're dying to tell me something, though. What is it? Is it good or bad? Is he really hung? Is he into role-play?"
"Stop!" Chris protested, laughing. She put down her sandwich and leaned forward, lowering her voice. "No, it's nothing bad. And no, he's not exceptionally hung." She blushed. "He's...big enough. Let's just leave it at that."
Dana nodded, grinning. "Nice. What else?"
"We did it four times."
"Wow! Good for you!" She picked up her fork and stabbed a chunk of tomato. "So now what? Are you two officially dating?"
Chris bit into her sandwich and shrugged. "I don't know." She smiled shyly. "We didn't do a lot of talking that night, and I haven't talked to him since."
"How long ago was this?"
"Night before last."
"And he hasn't called you or dropped by the security office since?"
"No. But I'm not worried. I don't think Sam is that kind of guy, and, like I said, we did it four times. So tell me about your date last night."
Now it was Dana's turn to shrug. "He's human, at least. A junior officer in engineering. Nice guy, but kind of a geek, and not a very good conversationalist. He spent forty-five minutes telling me how the plasma scrubbers in the core fuel injection system operate; or something like that. I quit paying attention after I heard the words 'plasma scrubbers'."
Chris laughed. "So no second date then?"
"Probably not. He hasn't called me yet, so I'm guessing that my boredom last night was pretty palpable. He did take me to a nice restaurant, though, that new Indravian place on the third level."
"Oh, how was it?"
"Really good. Pricey, but really good. Definitely worth it."
Chris was about to respond when she glanced at the door and saw Ritano enter with a Marine Corps staff sergeant beside him. "Is that Mike?" she asked Dana.
"Huh? Oh yeah, that's him." Dana waved them over.
"I didn't say invite them over!" Chris protested.
"Hello, ladies," Jeff said.
"Hello yourself," Dana replied. "How are you staff sergeant?"
"Doing good," Mike replied.
Jeff looked at Chris, smiling. "I heard you and Doctor Eppler had a good time the other night."
"We had another date, yes," Chris replied, glancing daggers at Dana.
"Awesome. Well, we better get going. Mike has to be back at his post in half an hour. See you later."
When they had passed out of earshot, Chris asked, "Why did you do that?"
"I wanted to get a close-up look at Jeff's new boyfriend."
"What?" Chris looked over her shoulder at her ex-husband and his lunch companion.
"Well, I don't know if they're dating, but I heard Frakes spent the night at Jeff's quarters. I think it was the same night you and Sam finally did it." She licked the remnants of ranch dressing offer fork and grinned. "Four times."
Chris shook her head, smiling as well, and pushed back her plate. "Good for him."
"Oh, come on. That's it?"
"Dana, I don't know what kind of relationship you think Jeff and I have, but I keep telling you that I don't care about who he dates - or fucks. We're just friends."
"Ehhhhhh, I don't know. You seemed awfully surprised just a second ago for someone who doesn't care who her ex-husband is dating."
Chris stood. "I have to get back to work. You're buying lunch."
"It's your turn."
"Nope, I paid last time. See you back at the office. Don't be late."
( 4 )
"Sorry I'm late." Brantar Varis moved quickly to her seat and passed a pair of data discs to Ilkara and Commodore Gabriel. The trio was in Gabriel's office, and the commodore activated the door lock and the anti-surveillance field as soon as Varis was seated.
"There's not much to report," the Ralorian continued. "We found the hypergate in the Plonn system, which is located in an outer sector of Emperium space. The gate is surrounded at all times by at least six dreadnoughts, and the Jha'Drok have also built a small starbase near it. The gate was never in use while we were present, nor did our scans show any residual tachyon radiation around it. That means that it's been at least two standard weeks since the last time the hypergate's vortex was activated."
"Was there any sign of exterior damage?" Ilkara asked.
"No; at least none that our sensors could detect."
Gabriel had inserted the disc into his terminal and was perusing the report, frowning. "They haven't returned to K'Ssala Ormmai since the battle there with the Dauntless six months ago." He looked up at Varis. "And there was no sign that they had successfully linked this hypergate with the others in the network?"
The Ralorian shook her head. "I honestly couldn't tell for certain. We were unable to penetrate the gateway's security protocols. Not without being detected anyway."
"Was there any indication that the Jha'Drok are building another assault legion in that system?" Ilkara asked.
"No. There were no shipyards. Although, if this hypergate is linked to another one beside the one at K'Ssala, it's very likely the Jha'Drok are building their fleet in some star system billions of light years from here."
"Tell me again the range of each gateway?" Gabriel requested.
"Three hundred thousand light years. The range of the relay hubs was just a bit farther than that."
Varis whistled softly. "That's quite a distance." She frowned, thinking. "The matter we have to address now is how to destroy this hypergate. Although, I suppose that's more of an FCE problem now."
Gabriel had his gaze fixed on the Erayan's. "It is. But they're going to need Ilkara's help to do it." He paused, waiting for her reaction.
She didn't disappoint him. "There is a way to destroy those gateways, but the technology to do it is beyond your means right now." She hesitated.
"Meaning that we don't have the raw materials capable of constructing such a weapon?" Varis prompted.
"Not necessarily. It would be possible for the FCE to construct a crude - but effective - weapon with the technological capabilities you currently possess. All you need is a little bit of my knowledge to fill in the missing components on the blueprint. However…I'm not sure that I'm willing to provide that knowledge."
"Why not?" Varis protested. "We need to eliminate this threat as soon as possible."
"Your report indicates that this hypergate is not currently a threat. The Jha'Drok have not returned to K'Ssala Ormmai since their initial battle with the Daun
tless crew, and even if, by some miracle, they were able to find another of our starbases or shipyards, it would take more than just six months to create another assault legion. However, Jolan Nejra's report to us four months ago stated that the destruction of that legion left the Emperium severely depleted of industrial resources and raw materials. Not only that, the abandoned Erayan shipyard that the Jha'Drok stumbled onto over a century ago was utterly stripped of all available materials and technology in order to successfully manufacture that assault legion. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that the Jha'Drok are out of the necessary resources to even begin reconstruction of another fleet. That means that this gateway is not currently a threat. In my own report to Admiral Hazen I will advise him and FCI to simply watch and wait. If, in a few weeks or months, it does become necessary to destroy that hypergate, then I will give FCE the necessary information to construct a weapon to destroy it."
"Okay," Varis acknowledged, "but, just to be clear, the Jha'Drok hypergate is not connected to ours, only to the one at K'Ssala Ormmai."
"Yes. If the Jha'Drok would be foolish enough to try an attack on Exxar-One, they would have to come through the Ormmai gateway first."
"What about Jolan and Annaias?" Gabriel asked Varis.
"They are living on a planet on the fringe of Jha'Drok space, with a group of Jha'Drok that have shunned all forms of modern technology. They call themselves the N'Kydo. There's more detail in my report. Also, before they left the ship, Jolan gave me an intelligence report to pass on to you. Parts of it are extremely...enlightening, to say the least."
"Did he give you more information about the assault legion?" Ilkara asked.
"No. But he did tell me about an epidemic among the Jha'Drok female population. Apparently, for the last eighty standard years, at least a quarter of each new generation of females has either been born sterile, or has become barren later on, usually just after the onset of puberty. The doctors are at a loss to explain it, and it appears to affect all Jha'Drok women – no matter their demographic. According to the most recent data that Jolan was able to include with his report, the overall birth rate among the Jha'Drok female population over the last eighty years has declined almost thirty percent. If that trend continues, the Jha'Drok people have only about two - maybe three - centuries at most, before they, as a species, are completely extinct."
