by Regine Abel
“Which suddenly stopped the day after she resigned,” Aleina said, flabbergasted. “Can we find her?”
“That is a question for you, Khel,” Lhor said. “The secret services just completed their initial investigation. The President will be contacting you shortly to request the First Division joins in the effort to track her down. He wants this kept on the down low. Ten years of access to our most sensitive information is a severe blow. They will want to speak to your mate as well, Kamala.”
“He will not say anything that could incriminate Korlethea,” I said, my spine stiffening. “When we were before the Quorum, he gave them a file saying he believed his contact on Xelix Prime had either gone rogue or was receiving orders from someone pretending to speak on behalf of the Quorum. I believe the Korletheans, too, will want to investigate this.”
“Be that as it may, the Council has rescinded the invitation to the Korlethean delegation,” Lhor said. “Surprisingly, they didn’t argue.”
“I’m not really surprised,” I said, pensively. “There’s a shit storm brewing on Korlethea. I think they’ve got more pressing matters to deal with right now than trying to out the Tuureans.”
“It doesn’t mean they won’t still do it,” Aleina cautioned.
“I know, and we proceed as planned by revealing ourselves first,” I replied. “But Xevius’s aunt told him if he sided with me, it would start a civil war on his home world. So much was put in question during that hearing… well, when Xevius gave his report, rather—which still felt like a trial. And the children…” I turned to look at Khel with respect. “You did a phenomenal job raising that boy. He adores you. He’s still ashamed for the times he wanted to hurt you and Lhor.”
Khel looked embarrassed, moved, and proud. “It was not his fault. I’ve never blamed him for it.”
“But he blamed himself,” I said softly. “Hearing a child thanking his grandfather for teaching him how to no longer wish to harm the father he loves was powerful. To hear the monster they all believed him to be say he could kill them all with a thought, but that you taught him not to abuse the great power he’s been given profoundly shifted their perception. Xevius siding with ‘me’ isn’t what triggers their civil war; it was only one of the steps leading to it. Hearing your son’s speech and watching your daughter show mercy to one of those who had ordered her brother’s assassination are what is turning Korlethea upside down.”
“Omniate Theanna is revered by many Korletheans,” Aleina said, pensively. “Curing her would have indeed earned the children a great deal of support.”
“The best part is what she said when Theanna asked her why she saved her,” I said, my heart swelling with love for the children. “Zhara stared the Omniate in the eyes and asked ‘why let you suffer when I have the power to take it away?’”
Ghan and Khel snorted, the same pride glowing in their eyes.
“That’s my little princess,” Ghan said, earning himself a possessive glare from Khel.
I couldn’t help smiling, amused by the senseless competition between the two males for the little girl’s affection, with neither of them being her sire. But then, Zharina was irresistibly adorable. However, it was the look on Lhor’s face that moved me the most. He’d never believed himself worthy of the love of a woman and had come so close to dying that every day he lived appeared like a miracle to him. Even now, he seemed unable to grasp how he had come to earn the love of my niece and conceived with her Zhara and Rhadames.
“Zhara was always a compassionate soul,” Lhor said. “She can never stand the suffering of others without attempting to appease it.”
“Just like her sire,” I said, smiling at him. His face heated, and he bowed his head in thanks. “But her words struck a deeper nerve since they had just implied that keeping the benefits of the vryer roots to themselves was better than saving millions of innocent lives.”
Khel and Ghan growled in anger, an emotion reflected on my sister’s face.
“That’s murder,” Aleina said. “Genocide even. We can make a solid case to present to the Galactic Council that will have them expelled from the Alliance if they fail to provide assistance.”
Lhor smirked, his smile taking on an incredibly sexy, evil edge. “Indeed. With the two shipments your mate sent us, Minh has been working around the clock administering the cure to volunteers from the First Division with 100% success. Korlethea will be hard pressed denying us the root without becoming isolated and hit with more embargos than even Guldar faces.”
“One hundred percent?” I asked. “As in fully cured?”
“No,” Lhor amended. “So far, it hasn’t made the Taint just disappear, but the pineal glands in all the patients are growing in size, and producing MDT at higher rates than the Norms, and increasingly similar to those of the Primes. Their Taint has not only stopped progressing but is also regressing. It is too early to say if vryer will need to become a permanent addition to their diet, or if they’ll be able to stop taking the treatment once their pineal gland has grown to a healthy state. But we would need to receive enough supplies for at least a couple of years. With any luck, it will only take one year of treatment before they no longer need it, as was the case with the cure for Veredians.”
“Then we need to twist their arm into providing it,” Ghan said in a menacing voice.
“For now, Minh was able to create about 200,000 doses from those two shipments with enough spare for Sivh to get our orchard staff to start growing a whole bunch of them in one of our greenhouses,” Lhor added with excitement in his voice. “And with the help of that clever fiend that Kamala mated, we got our hands on the third shipment he had sent for the Korlethean delegation.”
“What?” I asked, pleasantly surprised.
“Thanks to my son teleporting you back to Xelix Prime, Xevius still has full access to the warehouse and secured apartments he had set up for the delegates,” Lhor said smugly, while running his fingers through his shoulder-length, black hair. “It’s a three-day trip from his home world. With Chana Bremhin gone—assuming she was their agent—the Korletheans don’t have anyone else to dispose of everything. Even if they’d sent someone immediately after you teleported, they won’t be here before tomorrow. And when they do, they’ll find an empty storage space. Minh says he’ll make over 100,000 more doses of the cure.”
“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I let him live after all,” Khel muttered.
I burst out laughing. “Grumble as much as you like, Khel, but sooner than later, you’ll grow to love my mate even more than Ghan.”
Khel snorted, while Aleina and her mate huffed haughtily as if that wasn’t even a remote possibility.
“Speaking of which, I would like you to let him come stay here with us,” I asked, my mouth suddenly drying up. “He’s not a threat to the children. You know I’d never deliberately put them in jeopardy. Not even for him.”
Khel’s face closed up. I knew him well enough to know a polite, but firm refusal would follow. Everyone else around the table held their breath, casting a wary look at the General.
“He agrees to let Valena read his mind to verify the honesty of his intentions,” I added quickly. “I swore to him she would not try to pry any personal or professional secrets from him that could jeopardize Korlethea’s national security.”
Khel pursed his lips and lowered his eyes while he weighed my words.
“He’s displaying a tremendous amount of trust,” Lhor said softly to his Gem. Khel’s gaze flicked towards him, and Lhor smiled encouragingly.
“I implicitly trust any of Valena’s evaluations,” Ghan said, staring intently at his friend. “Eryon needs help with the Titans and claims Xevius would be an even better trainer than he is. If he’s willing to let Valena assess him, I say let’s do it. Either way, he’s part of the family now. Might as well put that issue to rest.”
I could have kissed him right now. Ghan was usually a man of few words. But when he spoke, his words were always meaningful.
&
nbsp; “What’s with you always disapproving of whatever mates we Veredians choose, aside from Ghan that is?” I asked teasingly to lighten the atmosphere. “I recall you giving Zhul as much of a hard time when Valena chose him.”
“I had plenty of reasons,” he said, grumpily.
“And you got over them,” I replied, making a face at him, tension leaving my shoulders. Although he hadn’t said the words yet, the battle was won.
“Says who?” he deadpanned.
We all burst out laughing—well Ghan snorted in his typical minimalist display of emotion—and Khel made a face as if he’d bitten into something foul.
“We’ll see what Valena says,” Khel conceded with clear reluctance. “But I still reserve the right to beat his ass.”
“Whatever happened to not abusing one’s pow—?”
“General,” Sohr’s voice said over the com. “Our long-range scanners have detected an incoming unidentified personal shuttle. The model is Korlethean and does not belong to Agent Thanis.”
“Trajectory?” Khel asked, immediately falling into his General role.
“Our calculations indicate it is heading straight for us,” Sohr responded over the intercom. “A single passenger on board, female, no weapons detected.”
We all exchanged a confused look.
“Could it be that Chana Bremhin?” I asked.
Lhor shook his head. “The intelligence reports indicated she left Xelix Prime. They are on the lookout for her. She wouldn’t have been able to get back in without being discovered.”
“The Council may have rescinded its invitation to the Korlethean delegation, but there is no ban on Korletheans coming to Xelix Prime,” Ghan said. “The border agents wouldn’t have flagged her arrival.”
“Sohr, be ready to intercept, and keep us informed,” Khel said.
“Acknowled… Wait, she’s hailing us,” Sohr said.
“On screen,” Khel replied.
We all turned to the giant screen on the left wall of the Situation Room.
“No fucking way,” Aleina muttered when the screen lit up seconds later to display the mocking face of Venya Solius.
“Delightful to see you again Aleina Fein, or rather Ambassador Aleina Delphin,” Venya said in a teasing tone before turning her forest-green eyes towards me. “And nice to finally see you without your helmet, my dear niece.”
“What?” Aleina exclaimed, looking at me with a mix of disbelief and outrage.
I rolled my eyes in annoyance. “Apparently, she’s Xevius’s aunt,” I said with a helpless shrug.
“Are you serious?” Ghan asked through his teeth, his displeasure evident.
Like the rest of us, Ghan had wanted to strangle the obnoxious Oracle when we’d first met her during the rescue mission where we’d found the little Lenora who he and Aleina would later adopt as their first child.
“Don’t fret, First Officer Ghan. In time, I’ll grow on you,” she retorted smartly.
“What makes you think we’ll let you on the premises,” Khel asked, in a hard voice.
“Because I’ve seen it,” she said with a shrug.
“That doesn’t guarantee anything. You’re an Oracle,” I countered. “You see possibilities, not certainties.”
“Correct,” she conceded with a slight bow of her head, making a lock of her long black hair fall over her shoulder. “However, all the paths I’ve seen result in you letting me into your compound. So yes, in this instance, it is guaranteed.” When silence met her comment, she seemed to lose some of her arrogance a serious expression descending upon her features. “Look, you don’t have to like me. I’ll be the first to admit I’m what you could call an acquired taste. However, this isn’t about me. As you can guess, things have gone belly up on my home world. And it’s only the beginning. But these are not matters to be discussed over an unsecured com channel.”
“You will land your shuttle outside our gates and submit to a full search by the escort that will come retrieve you before you’re allowed onto the premises,” Khel said in an icy tone.
Venya pinched her lips but agreed with a stiff nod. “I’m seven minutes away. You might as well call Thaddeus’s daughter now so that we can put your suspicions to rest. Valid though they are, we do not have time for it.”
“Thaddeus?” Aleina asked.
“Valena’s sire,” I responded absentmindedly.
“You will submit to her examination?” Lhor asked.
“Of course,” she replied with a shrug. “I have nothing to hide.”
“See you when you arrive, then,” I said.
“Indeed,” Venya said with an enigmatic smile before ending the com.
Everyone turned to look at me as if I were to blame.
“You all back off,” I said with a frown. “You don’t get to pick your family.”
Lhor laughed while the others muttered. Ignoring them, I called Valena to ask her to come immediately.
* * *
Dressed in a peach-colored dhalla with silver embroidery that flattered her golden-brown skin, Venya, like most Korlethean, had a regal air about her as she entered the Situation Room and settled on the chair Khel indicated. Despite her grand air, the subtle darker tinge beneath the Oracle’s eyes and her slightly drawn features testified to the strain she’d been under. She tucked a long strand of her black hair behind the pointy tip of her ear and locked gazes with Khel.
“I will come straight to the point. I request asylum for myself and my nephew,” Venya said.
We all gaped at her at the unexpected statement. She gave us a sad smile and clasped her hands atop the table.
“Xevius’s report and your children’s appearance in the Assembly didn’t just tip the scale, it broke it,” Venya said, then turned to Aleina. “Remember my words to you when we met on Jeruna? I do not hate you. I just hate what the birth of your children has done to my home world. Korlethea is in complete chaos since the Titans took your sister and my nephew back here.” She looked at both Khel and Lhor in turn. “I am indebted to your children for saving my boy. I may not have birthed him, but I raised him.”
“Why do you need asylum?” Khel asked, his voice firm but devoid of its previous hardness. “There is no ban on Korlethean citizens coming to Xelix Prime.”
“The path has been set,” Venya said, “and we all have to take sides. Eryon and my nephew made their choice. So have I. Many others are in the process of doing so. Our government is collapsing, and factions are forming. In the next two days, two dozen of some of our highest-ranking Imperial Agents will defect. Hundreds, if not a couple thousand of our elite soldiers will follow.”
“Why?” Ghan asked.
“For the boy, of course,” Venya said. “They have felt his power. They have heard his words and felt shamed by them, especially in light of Eryon’s accomplishments. They are answering his call.”
“I still don’t see why you need asylum,” Khel insisted.
“The Quorum won’t let them leave,” I answered in her stead. “Assisting or contacting any Veredian is considered treason. Even our fathers are forbidden from seeking their daughters. They are prisoners on their own planet.”
Venya pinched her lips, visibly unhappy by my cold description of the situation of her home world but didn’t argue.
“The Quorum is divided, one half siding with Omniates Theanna and Sagan, the others siding with Omniates Daleus and Piatus,” Venya said. “The army and the Agency are being torn apart in that tug of war. I had foreseen this, so I left while I still could. With Xevius being dishonored and banned as a traitor, no one would question me choosing exile. But once the massive defections begin, they will want to stop the bleeding and cauterize the wound. All of us will be labeled traitors, and they will demand our extradition. We will either have to return to the fold or be executed.”
Khel slowly nodded his head as he pondered her words. He glanced at Lhor, and a silent communication seemed to pass between them.
“The President will need to be inf
ormed,” Lhor said. “If as many Korletheans as you say are coming, the Council—”
“No!” Venya exclaimed. For the first time, I could see true fear on her usually smug features. “You cannot let the word out beyond your closest inner-circle. It will leak! My brothers and sisters will be slaughtered.”
“I do not have the power to grant asylum,” Khel said, troubled by Venya’s obvious distress.
“I came to you in confidence because you’ve always acted honorably,” Venya said, her tone pleading. “You cannot tell your Council. My people. Will. Die.”
“Only President Frebhin can authorize such a wide swath of asylum requests,” Lhor said in a soothing voice. “He, at a minimum, needs to be informed.”
Venya looked at him with something akin to despair, then her eyes went out of focus. I could feel my small hairs stand on end from the intense psionic energy she was emitting. From observing Amalia and Eryon, we all recognized the signs of the Oracle peering into the future. We waited silently, fascinated by the play of emotions on her attractive features with her pointy chin, high cheekbones, straight nose, and full lips. She shook her head a few times, frowned and blinked rapidly as if to dismiss a vision she didn’t like.
After what might have been nearly two minutes, she emerged from her trance, her eyelashes fluttering as she refocused on Lhor.
“Okay,” she said in a breathy voice, nodding her head. “Okay with just the President. But no one else. Promise me.”
“I will stress to him the sensitivity of the information and request he makes an executive decision on this. With Khel giving his support to the request, he should consent.”
Venya nodded, suddenly looking old and tired.
“Valena should be here within the hour,” Khel said. “In the meantime, you may stay in our bunker which has comfortable accommodations for a large number of people, or you are free to leave and find lodging in one of the hostels in Xelhan District or in Capital District.”
“I gladly accept your offer,” Venya said. “I am not here for tourism, and I hope to see my nephew soon,” she added, casting a glance in my direction. I nodded, and she smiled, for once without her usual sarcastic undertone. “After Valena has confirmed my intentions, I will want to meet your daughter, Councilor.”
