Nebula Nights: Love Among The Stars

by Melisse Aires

  Maddux looked up at her, and then to the captain. “You’re not thinking of asking what I think you’re considering are you?”

  Captain Palrion fixed his gaze on Kala. “How many minds can you hear at once?”

  “Many, but understand or manipulate, if needed, about twenty or so.” Kala frowned hearing his next thought before he said it.

  “Good. You can find out if that’s what we think it is.” Palrion pointed to a blip on the image of the local star system. “This very large moving object is believed to be the Ven Fleet. We need to confirm one way or another, quickly. We are trying to give the cloak a break from continual use, but if that’s the Ven, we need to go back under soon.”

  Kala responded, “I can with a listening stone.”

  Maddux set his jaw, and looked away. He understood the position they were in, but he also understood the risk this posed to Kala. “Just be certain you won’t overextend yourself.”

  Hints of a smile flickered across Kala’s lips “I’ll not do more than I know I can, Commander.”

  Captain Palrion looked at his third in command. “Good. Do you have a stone on you?”

  “Yes, Captain. I do.” She thrust her hand into the pocket of her uniform and pulled out a leather strap with a listening stone attached to it. “I have my other stones, but this one is usually the easiest to secure.” She held it up, and Rouen placed it around her neck for her, “Thank you.”

  He nodded, and Kala closed her eyes to focus. She blocked out the minds nearest her. She then blocked out all thoughts she found familiar on her vessel. She reached beyond the ship for any mind she could hear. Suddenly, her calm expression changed as she touched the minds of those she knew were there.

  “She’s there. Greshna. She’s among the Ven fleet with her brother. They are leaders. Twins. Ven natural psionics are stronger together than individually. Together, they are dangerous.”

  “Did she hear you?” Palrion understood the implications, and became very concerned.

  Kala shook her head. “I don’t believe so. My contact was brief.”

  “Are you sure it’s her?”

  “Yes. It was. Her mind was far too familiar to be anyone else.” Kala frowned, and looked between Maddux and Palrion. “We’re in trouble if they come across us. She’s commanding a fleet at least twice the size of the Xenonian First. The Dentonians are not ready for this, and neither are we.”

  Commander Maddux ordered the ship to cloak, and put everyone on alert. When he returned to the captain and Kala, he stated what he thought was obvious. “We need to determine what the plan is.”

  “We have one Commander. Stay hidden until they go by. Once they have passed, we finish our search for the Sentinel remains, and complete our mission in Dentonian space.” Palrion remained firm in his orders.

  “And if they find us, Captain?” Annoyed by the passive approach, Commander Maddux snapped at the captain.

  In a calm, confident tone, Kala interjected, “We surprise them with a war ship unlike any they’ve ever seen.”

  Surprised by her assertion, both men looked at her with grins crossing their lips. Kala returned a smile of her own.

  ~*~

  As the hours ticked by slowly, Kala retreated to her room to meditate. What she found herself doing, instead, was cautiously searching for Yatrell among the fleet. If Gardesh and Greshna were still there, Kala knew he was too. She knew from her previous connection to Greshna that she’d not trust anyone else with the Children of Promise. Where she was, Yatrell would be too. She struggled to find him. Eventually, as the fleet idled not far from the Enpassant’s position, Kala was able to find Greshna’s mind.

  ~Caretaker.~ she projected timidly, innocently.

  Greshna looked on as her brother continued to draw information from the Dentonian. When she heard the voice of her child she focused her thoughts. ~Green Eyes?~

  With hesitance and fear in her voice, Kala projected, ~Yes, Caretaker. They hurt me because you left me. Now I’m cold and alone in this small space.~ Kala worked to flood her own mind with Ven voices. ~Please Caretaker, help me. I’m scared.~

  Confused, but pleased to know the child was indeed coming home, Greshna projected back, ~Where are you, child?~

  ~I don’t know. I’ve been in a box for days… or … longer.~ Kala made sure Greshna could hear the Ven voices she was channeling to her. ~It’s cold, Caretaker. You’re the first mind I’ve reached that I can recall.~

  ~Don’t worry child, I’ll find you. We’ll get you on board and take care of you again.~ Greshna reassured the child-like Green Eyes, and closed her connection. She then walked over the Gardesh with a smug grin adoring her features. “Release him brother. Allow the medical staff to tend to his wounds. Green Eyes contacted me. She’s coming home.”

  Yatrell’s eyes widened when he heard Greshna speak. “No. No you can’t take her. You can’t have her! Leave her!,”

  Gardesh released the clamps holding Yatrell and stepped back, allowing the man to fall to the ground. “She is one of ours, as are you, Yatrell.” Gardesh gestured to the peons near the door. “Get the man food, medical attention, and put him in shared secured quarters. He’ll have company soon.” A sneer crossed his face as he turned to his sister. “How shall we retrieve our Green Eyes?”

  “She’s in a box, likely a life pod, released into space nearby. I am sure she wasn’t released in Dentonian space. It is more likely she’s been adrift. She can’t be far as the only minds she’s hearing are Ven.” She paused. “It appears she has reverted to our child once more.”

  “Good. Let’s get some probes sent out and see what we can find.” Gardesh walked to a panel in the room and began to input orders for the fleet.

  ~*~

  Kala opened her eyes, terrified by what she’d done. She was aware of the implications, and what the results may yield. She knew they wouldn’t have him, if not for her. She took a deep breath and waited. It wasn’t long before she was contacted again. This time, Palrion called her to a meeting in the conference room. Within minutes, every member of the covert team found their way to the deck one strategy room.

  Maddux stood near the front with Palrion, discussing options. Once everyone was seated, Palrion gave him a nod, and he turned to the team. “Things have changed. We know the Ven are looking for something. We don’t know what that is. Either it’s us, or it’s something else, but we can’t wait around to find out. We’re going here.”

  He plugged in a data strip to the panel on the wall, and an image of the star system appeared on the display.“Here is where the Dentonians will make their last stand, and fail. We are going in a different direction.”

  “They don’t have to fall. We can help them identify the fleet. Even under cloak, there has to be a way.” Kala spoke up, knowing that her hearts were tied to the situation in a way she never expected.

  “Kala, we can’t afford to reveal our position to either side.” Henessa looked across the conference table at her friend. She understood Kala’s concerns, but couldn’t let her friend’s hearts jeopardize the mission.

  “So we won’t. Let’s plan something that will keep us under cloak and reveal the Ven fleet. If they can see them, they can hit ‘em.” Kala leaned on the table, and looked around at all of the faces. She read each of their emotions carefully, but she knew some were trying to protect their thoughts for themselves.

  “Kala, what you’re asking isn’t impossible, but it will take more than we currently have.” Sira finally broke the silence. “If we can send a magnetic pulse from one ship to the next, it will bounce across their hulls, shorting out systems as it goes.” She paused briefly, before adding, “We might need a few pulses.”

  “Magnetic pulse? Sira, do you know the power it would take to generate that? Do you realize what it would take from our resources to make that happen?” Commander Merx Tol looked at his second with intensity and frustration.

  “Yes, I do,” she calmly responded. “It takes making that machine work again, and
putting an electrokinetic in it instead of me. I’ve been studying it. It can be adjusted, and programmed as needed.” Sira’s tone remained non-threatening.

  “No.” Captain Palrion interjected. “This is not our fight. This is not why we are here.”

  Kala looked at Palrion squarely in the eyes. “Captain, what if I can get the information for the base, and the Sentinel remains or survivors without giving away our position or mission? Would that be enough?”

  His eyes narrowed meeting hers.“What does that have to do with the upcoming Dentonian battle?”

  “I have a Dentonian contact. He’s… malleable.” Kala selected her words carefully, knowing only a few at the table had a real idea about what was going through her mind. “I can obtain the information. In return for that information, we can provide them the ability to identify the ships before they reach the interior Dentonian fleet.”

  Palrion remained quiet for several minutes, considering the situation at hand. “Sira, can you promise this can be done without revealing ourselves?”

  “Yes, sir. I would need Commander Tol’s assistance, though.” Sira knew her senior officer would still be upset by the idea.

  “Kala, if you can obtain the information in a short period of time, we will wait on the Ven, and, at the right moment, expose their fleet. Until then, Merx and Sira get started on the adjustments. If she can’t obtain the information, we know we’ve learned more about the situations.” Hoping he wasn’t rushing his people into trouble, Palrion concluded, “Does everyone understand their positions?” Those in the room agreed they had. “Good. Dismissed.”

  As the room emptied, Kala projected to Henessa that she’d need her help. Henessa lingered until the room was empty except the two of them. She sat next to Kala. “How are you going to do this? From what you said, he’s in no condition to be help.”

  “I may have bought him some time. I want to contact his second. There’s a woman that he talks about often. I can’t recall her name, but I believe she’ll respond if an encrypted message were to come across for Yatrell. I could be wrong, but it’s the best I’ve got without hurting him.” Kala kept her voice low, even knowing the two were alone. “Can you help me with that?”

  “Yes. Just be careful.” Henessa became more concerned for her friend as she spoke. “Whatever you do, don’t risk this crew.”

  She nodded. “Of course, Nessa. Nothing I do will risk the crew.”

  Henessa watched Kala for several minutes before walking around to her chair. She used the console in the table where Kala was sitting to set up the interface for communications. Once she adjusted frequencies and signatures, she encrypted it, and then showed Kala how to open the channel. “Do you want me to stay here?”

  “No. I can handle this. I need to. You need to ready your team. If this doesn’t work, we still may end up at odds with the Ven.” Kala’s voice shook slightly, reflecting her discomfort with the situation.

  “Alright. We’ll talk when you’re done.” Henessa left her friend to make the contact.

  Kala sent the encrypted message to Yatrell, knowing it shouldn’t be answered easily or right away. As she waited, she tried to focus her mind on her link with him so she could locate him. Her efforts were interrupted by a chime on the console. She opened her eyes to see a brunette woman with bladed weapons on her arm, staring back at her.

  “Hello.”

  Anara looked over her shoulder then back at the screen, in a lowered tone she responded, “Yatrell isn’t here. He’s been captured.”

  “Yes, I’m aware. I was hoping you’d answer in his place.” Kala kept her tone calm and diplomatic.

  “Why me?” Anara snapped at the green-eyed red head on the screen.

  “Because you are his second, and have been for a while. He has mentioned you to me several times.”

  “You’re his intelligence contact?” Anara kept a cautious eye for everything around her. She was in a communications corner, but she wasn’t confident this conversation was entirely secure. “What do you want from me?”

  “I want you to retrieve Yatrell.”

  “How? The Ven have him in a fleet larger than our planet. They are under cloak. We can’t find them all that way.”Anara was intrigued by the idea, but didn’t trust this woman.

  “I have the means to reveal the Ven fleet, before it reaches the Dentonian build up. Between those waiting and your fleet, you should be able to damage the Ven enough to stop them. I need something before I can do that.”

  Anara became annoyed that this intelligence officer would ask for something in exchange for the lives of the fleet.“Why won’t you just do it? These are your people too. Why can’t you just open this up so we can kick them out of our space?”

  “Because, my people need something else to get us involved. The fall of your species to the Ven is nothing to my senate. To me, it is.” Kala showed genuine concern for the Dentonian people. “No one should fall to the Ven.”

  “You’re not Dentonian?”

  Kala took a deep breath, and explained, “No, Anara. I’m Xenonian. I have already delayed the Ven fleet to buy your people some time. Now, what I will need is the location of your Xenonian prisoners of war, and records detailing events related to the computer logs of the Xenonian ship, the Sentinel.”

  Anara took a few minutes to digest the fact Yatrell had been engaging the enemy for some time now. She also recalled Yatrell’s knowledge of the fleet, and what was to come. This forced her to accept the Xenonian woman on the screen was not like the other Xenonian woman she had encountered. The weight of the looming onslaught also lingered prominently.

  “Alright. You’ll find your people on Pextur, along with information retrieved from our missions. What can I expect?”

  “My ship is capable of weakening the Ven systems. When their fleet starts to short out, you’ll need to have a focused life signs scan on the first set of Ven ships to short. He’ll be on one of those. Your window won’t be open long. You’ll need to get him out of their grasp fast.” Kala paused for momentarily. “Thank you, Anara.”

  “Yeah. For both our sake, this conversation never officially happened.”

  “Agreed. I wish you and your crew well in what is to come. I will prepare what is needed now.”

  Kala cut the transmission and left to find her captain, and get the crew working on the solution.

  ~*~

  Greshna snapped at the lower rank reporting to her. “Why haven’t you brought me anything?”

  “There’s not a pod. Nothing. We can’t trace a person, Xenonian, or Ven in any pod. She isn’t out there, Turaant Red.” The lower Ven rank hesitated, and shuttered expecting things to turn poorly for them.

  Greshna’s tone turned deceptively sweet, and the lower rank shivered visibly. “You are just doing your job.”

  “Y-yes ma’am.”

  “Good. Now you will clean the prisoner’s blood from the tables my brother was speaking to him at. Please be sure to use your own materials, to remove his.” She growled the last words, and shoved the man hard into the deck near the door exiting her bridge.

  The door slid open, and Gardesh stepped over the fallen Ven soldier. “I take it he still hasn’t located Green Eyes?”

  “No.” She snapped. “Not a single ship has. She was near. I could feel her, but the connection is gone. I can’t find her now.” Grehsna stared out the nearest window. “She is near.”

  “If she’s here, sister, we will find her.” Gardesh placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “We need to finish with the subjugating of our new acquisition. If she’s out there and not in the pod, she’s setting us up, and will likely follow. If I’m right about the connection she and I shared briefly, she will follow. We will then punish her deception as we have our boy.” Greshna continued to gaze out the window, hopeing to catch a glance of a life pod containing her precious cargo.

  “Agreed. If punishment is due, she will receive it.”

  Gardesh walked to the wall, placed his han
d on it, and interfaced with the computer, giving it orders for the fleet. As a whole, they began preparations and subsequent movement toward Dentonia again.

  ~*~

  Anara finished making arrangements with Set and Canith. The targeted life sign scans and backup systems were routed as needed. When the time came, they would be ready. Until then, they diligently monitored everything around them, and reported any findings to the captain.

  ~*~

  With only a short time before the fleets converged, Kala knew their window to act was rapidly closing. After she had spent time with Maddux working out the likely area the Turaant Red’s ship would be, she walked to Engineering to find out what was happening there. As she approached Merx and Sira, she noticed they were reviewing schematics on a screen near the psionic machine.

  “What’s going on?”

  Sira looked up from what they were focused on. “I was able to adjust the settings, but we can’t see why we aren’t getting a confirmation of the changes.”

  “Oh.” Kala was unable to understand the information on the screen, but she carefully looked at the machine itself. “Well, if the settings are correct, we should test it. Rouen said he’d have us within the Ven fleet in moments.”

  “That’s just it, Kala, we’re not sure they are correct. There has been no way to confirm the information, or that the altered commands were accepted.” Merx looked back at the schematic. “We know that what Sira did adjusted the magnetic settings, and we are confident that the commands should amplify any electrokinetic input, but we have no idea if those settings remain as they were entered. If we don’t have confirmation we don’t know what the machine will do to whoever is inside it.”

  Kala listened carefully to the concerns of her teammates. She paid attention to their emotions and their expressions. She understood why they were concerned, but she moved toward the machine anyway. After connecting with Cyrin, she removed her uniform jacket and placed both arms inside the machine.

  The computer interrupted her teammates when it chimed: Preparing Eletrokinetic Charge Manipulation.