Fire Margins

by Lisanne Norman

  *

  Konis tried to smother a yawn. He, Nesul, and Kusac had talked till late the night before, not least about the unbelievable news that Valtegan remains had been found on Shola. Almost as stunning had been the disclosure that the Brotherhood had only just managed to rescue the bones before Guild Master Esken’s special priests had “blessed” the site—using a massive charge of explosives—thus destroying any chance for the ruins to be examined by anyone else.

  Then this. He’d been dragged out of bed at dawn to attend a special meeting of the Sholan High Command—and not even on Shola, but on the Rynara, tethered in orbit at Chagda Station.

  “There you have it, my colleagues,” Commander Chuz, president of the Sholan High Command was saying. “All the information the Chemerians have given us on Jalna.”

  Drawn back to the meeting, Konis stirred in his chair. “Have they given us any data on the other species that trade there?”

  “None, Clan Lord,” said Commander Chuz, reminding himself that the Sholan in front of him, though a good twenty years younger than anyone else in the room, was nevertheless the head of Alien Relations and the elected representative of the sixteen Telepath Clans on Shola. He also possessed a Talent second to none—unless rumors of his son’s abilities were to be believed.

  “Have they indicated whether or not they intend to do so?”

  “They are collating what data they have at present.”

  “Our priority is obvious,” said General Naika, leaning forward and tapping his stylus on the table. “We get our people out of there as soon as possible.”

  “While our people are important, General, there are more issues at stake here, not least of which is first contact with several new species, none of whom we’ve met before. This matter has to be handled carefully,” said Konis Aldatan. “We have only the Chemerian view of the Jalnians, and I think no one here would disagree that the validity of the Chemerian view on any species is questionable, given their racial paranoia.” As he finished talking, he looked over at the Governor, getting a brief ear flick in reply.

  “I agree,” said General Raiban. “We need firsthand experience of these people. One doesn’t go into enemy territory without spying out the land.”

  “Before we go any further, I think you should be apprised of the information that was brought to my notice last night,” said Nesul. Four heads turned to face him.

  “General Raiban, I believe this falls under your jurisdiction because news of this must not be allowed to leak out from this meeting.”

  “Oh, do get on with it, Nesul,” snapped General Naika. “You’re holding the proceedings up enough without all this cloak and dagger stuff.”

  “Last night, I was informed of two very disturbing facts. First, the Telepath Guild, under the direction of Guild Master Esken of Valsgarth, is purposely destroying any ruins. Second, in doing this, he’s destroying evidence of the presence of Valtegans on Shola around the time of the Cataclysm. Whether he’s aware of the Valtegan remains is not known.”

  “So the Brotherhood got in before us,” said Raiban softly, nodding her head.

  “You knew?” demanded Naika, rounding on her, his ears flicking angrily.

  “We suspected,” she said. “Until now, we had no proof. Talking of which, who corroborated this piece of intelligence?”

  “My son and his physician, Vanna Kyjishi, as well as several others on my son’s staff,” said Konis. “If anyone should know what Valtegan remains look like, it’s them.”

  “What the hell is Esken up to?” asked Chuz. “As far as I understood it, he has the ruins blasted to prevent any unstable structures falling on our miners. Apart from the remains of metal goods, I understood there was nothing of interest in the ruins.”

  “Esken, like his predecessor, has actively fostered a lack of interest in our distant past,” said Konis. “The general idea is that by ignoring that period of our history, the old fears of Telepaths won’t ever surface again. By and large, I’m sure neither he nor his people are aware there are Valtegan bones lying hidden in our ancient cities.”

  “Well, it’s got to stop now,” said Naika firmly, again tapping his stylus on the table in front of him. “I want excavations starting immediately. We need to know a damned sight more about the Valtegans than we do now!”

  “No,” said Governor Nesul quietly, leaning back in his chair. “We do not want a big exposure of Esken’s crimes, imagined or otherwise. That’s one good way to panic every Sholan on this planet. It’s having that effect on you, so how much worse will it be for the uniformed public? We keep it quiet for now. Konis and I have made arrangements to deal with it and when it’s been discussed with General Raiban, then you’ll get your first report on how things are proceeding. Incidentally, how goes the research at Nijidi Science Station? Any clues concerning the nature of the weapon or weapons that were used on our two colonies by the Valtegans?”

  “They’ve reached no conclusions yet,” said Raiban. “Unfortunately, they know more about what wasn’t used than what was.”

  “I thought that research had priority,” said Nesul. “Why is it taking so long, General? Our people want answers and after all this time, you’ve still none to give them.”

  “We’re dealing with a totally alien technology here, Governor,” said Raiban sharply. “We don’t even know what we’re looking for, and we might not recognize it when we find it! I’m due another update from Nijidi tomorrow. Hopefully they’ll have some news for us then.”

  “I think we should get back to the matter in hand,” said Commander Chuz. “Raiban, are you happy collaborating with Konis and Governor Nesul on the matter of the Valtegan remains?”

  Raiban flicked her ears in assent. “It’s waited for fifteen hundred years, Commander, it’ll wait a few more hours. We aren’t in imminent danger of attack from the Valtegans whether or not they’ve been here before. I’ll have a proposition to put in front of you by the time I hear from Nijidi.”

  “In that case, we’ll return to the matter of Jalna. It’s now even more important for us to get as much information on the Valtegans as possible.”

  “What about a straightforward approach?” asked Governor Nesul. “We could open negotiations with them as a new species, explain the situation and offer to trade for information.”

  General Raiban gave a snort of laughter. “And just what language do you suggest we speak to them in, Governor?” she asked. “Just because we’re the largest military presence in the Alliance, and our language forms the basis for interspecies communications, doesn’t mean that the same is true of Jalna. Would they even understand the concept of cooperation? We know they sell people, an idea totally alien to us. What other major differences are there between our species? Accepting a Chemerian’s word on anything is like relying on a blind man to describe a sunset!”

  Nesul was fighting to keep his ears erect despite his anger.

  “For those of us who are regularly involved in the complexities of dealing with other species, it’s easy to forget that not everyone is aware of the problems we face,” said Konis, inwardly sighing and wishing for the thousandth time that intelligence officers were actually picked for intelligence. Raiban was well known for her bluntness and her ability to alienate people. One could respect her, for she had an excellent information gathering network, but liking her was another matter.

  “If we go into this situation without enough information, we could jeopardize the safety of our people,” said General Naika, looking round the assembled heads of the Forces. “The more we discuss the matter, the more convinced I am that it should be a covert operation, backed by force if necessary. It may not be possible to negotiate the return of our people, and in even attempting that we may lose the opportunity to effect a rescue by alerting the Jalnians to our interest in them. I say we need a lot more information before we can make a considered decision.”

  Commander Chuz made a note on the comp pad in front of him before looking up.

  “T
hen we are agreed. This is an intelligence mission.”

  Heads nodded in agreement all round the table.

  “The next item concerns who should be sent. As well as requesting us to deal with the matter, the Chemerians have specified whom they want to investigate the situation on Jalna, and I have discussed the matter in some detail with Clan Lord Aldatan. At this moment in time, it is impossible to comply with their request for the Clan Lord’s son and his Leska to go to Jalna. Therefore, as an interim measure, we must send someone else.”

  Konis let most of this wash over his head.

  Gods, Kusac, he thought, did you ever in your darkest nightmares dream what problems your Human Leska would bring to you and to us all as a family?

  He could remember it still, the call in the middle of the night from the Khalossa. Kusac, his face set and determined, looking older and thinner than when he’d last seen him the previous year. My Leska is a female Terran, not a Sholan.

  Then he finally brought her to the estate on Shola. He’d no longer been the youth who’d left a year before, but a grown male, defiant and proud of his alien Leska, the female who wore his torc.

  Vartra knows why it happened, Father, but if I had the choice, I’d choose no other.

  Like the rest of his family, Konis had grown to love her, almost too late. Vartra be praised that she hadn’t died of her wounds, else they’d have lost Kusac, too. Now, scant days after that ill-fated Challenge, the Chemerians demanded that Kusac and Carrie be sent to a new alien world and risk their lives to find out why a Valtegan ship had landed there.

  Konis dragged himself back to an awareness of his surroundings.

  “The reasons the Chemerians want Konis’ son and his Leska to go to Jalna are actually sound,” Commander Chuz was saying. “The Terrans have a variety of Talents other than telepathy and because of Kusac’s Link to the Keissian female, Carrie, he has acquired several of her abilities. Just how many we’re not sure as the Guild is still processing some of the data from their tests.” Chuz glanced down at his notes before continuing.

  “The particular Talent that interests us most at present is the one that allows Kusac to fight. As you know, telepaths pick up the surface thoughts and emotions of those nearby, which is why they are unable to engage in combat. They experience the pain that they would inflict on their opponent. This isn’t so with the Keissian Telepath—nor with Kusac now.”

  “Legends would have us believe this wasn’t always so for Sholans,” said General Naika.

  “Who knows?” said Commander Chuz. “Anyway, Kusac and Carrie have been training at the Warrior Guild, as you will all have read from the reports that get forwarded to you. It’s this combination of abilities, Telepathy and combat, that we and the Chemerians find so interesting and that they believe holds out the best hope of a successful mission to Jalna. Given their description of the Jalnians and their culture, I can see why.”

  “It’s utterly out of the question,” said Konis flatly. “Carrie is still recovering from the aftermath of the Challenge. Not only was she was severely injured, but she suffered the mental and physical trauma of losing her cub, a trauma also shared by my son.”

  “We’re aware of the tragic circumstances of the Challenge, Konis. I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say you and they have our sympathy,” said Raiban.

  A ripple of understanding noises went round the room.

  “How long is it likely to be till she’s fit,” asked Rilgho, getting back to the business in hand.

  “At least another couple of months,” said Konis, “but I will not have them putting their lives at risk again. Kusac is my life-mate’s heir and as a Telepath he is exempt from anything involving combat.”

  “His children will not succeed him, though,” said Commander Chuz gently. “Hasn’t your Clan Leader registered your daughter Taizia’s future children as Kusac’s heirs? That exempts him from the need to provide heirs for your Clan, thus freeing him to pursue the career he has chosen—one in the Forces.”

  “You know I’m in dispute with the military over this,” said Konis, beginning to get angry. “I want his contract canceled, since when he signed it he was the only Clan heir, and not at liberty to do so.”

  “Which you are quite within your rights to do,” agreed Chuz. “However, we’re dealing with the situation as it stands now and his contract has not yet been canceled. They would be the ideal people for the job, but for two things: one, the delay caused by Carrie’s injury, and two, neither of them has been fully trained as a Warrior, or as part of our Military Space Force. They aren’t ready to go out as field agents. The best estimate I could get from the Warrior Guild is that they could both be ready within two months of Carrie being fit to resume training. This makes a total delay of four months. We cannot afford to wait that long.”

  “So we send a reconnaissance team down first and assess the situation,” said Raiban. “Then we can make a decision concerning what to do about our people. In the meantime, I particularly want further details of the Jalnians and the other species that trade there.”

  “It will be seen to. Are we agreed that this should be a reconnaissance mission?” asked Chuz.

  Again, the murmur of assent.

  “It’s also obvious that we can’t send Sholans to work undercover among a people that are Human in appearance, therefore we need to send down a team of Humans.”

  “No,” said General Naika. “I am absolutely against using Humans. We hardly know this species. How do we know we can trust them?”

  “In the last several months, negotiations and work with them has progressed relatively well from what my people on Keiss tell me, and from what I read in the reports,” said General Raiban. “The Humans on Keiss are indebted to us for backing their demand for independence, and are just as motivated as we are to find out more about the Valtegans. I have no objections. This mission is important, but better we find out how well they can cooperate with us on a mission like this rather than on one where there is far more at stake than four Sholan lives.”

  “It’s a calculated risk, but worth it,” agreed General Rilgho.

  “Konis?” asked Chuz.

  “Like any species, if you choose the right people for the job, they will do it well. There is less of a species difference between us and them than with any other species in the Alliance. We have little choice anyway. There’s no one else we can send. Yes, it has my vote.”

  “Naika, do you wish to change your opinion?”

  “No,” growled Naika. “I’ll go on record as objecting.”

  “Konis, can you liaise with Raiban on the choice of personnel? You know the Keissians better than any of us at present. I feel that we need at least one telepath on the team, so we can get reports safely from them without exposing them to the danger of having their identities discovered,” said Chuz, making more notes on his comp pad before looking round the table.

  “Thank you all for coming to the Rynara and attending this meeting. We will reconvene when we’ve had the first report in from Raiban concerning the presence of Valtegan remains.”

  *

  Raiban took Konis to her office to set up a vidiphone conference with Captain Skinner on Keiss.

  Pleasantries and news were exchanged, then they got down to business. Some time later, Raiban escorted Konis to the landing bay for a shuttle back down to Shola.

  “I’ll choose a Telepath from among the Humans at the Guild,” he said to Raiban as they left her office and headed for the main shuttle bay.

  “It goes against the grain to rely on a Terran with, as we see it, an untrained Talent,” he continued, wincing slightly at the chill from the hangar floor on his bare feet. “At least they’ve all had some Guild tuition. However, I want to know we have an absolutely reliable line of communication with the Chemerian cargo shuttles around Jalna. So for the Telepath on the Chemerian ship, I want a Sholan.”

  Raiban nodded. “Wise. We know we can rely totally on our own people. If for any reason the Terra
ns should be unable to communicate with our agent, then he or she can read their minds to get the information.”

  “It’s not quite that simple, Raiban,” said Konis, stepping through the hatch before turning round to face her. “You know our code of ethics. We never take, we ask. At least our Telepath will be able to contact any of the team and ask for the information.”

  “So long as it works,” she said, “I’ll leave the details to you. I’ll be getting in touch with Stronghold later today. I want to actually see these bones for myself. Then I’ll want to interview your son and his friends.”

  “His friends, yes, my son and Carrie, no, not even for you, Raiban,” said Konis, baring his teeth in a grin that had nothing to do with humor.

  Raiban put out a hand to stop him as he turned away.

  “What’s this Leska of Kusac’s like?”

  Konis frowned. “Still probing, Raiban? She’s no security risk to us, quite the opposite in fact. I’m concerned for her. She’s fitting in too well with us and will have nothing to do with the Humans at all.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s never easy being the first, Raiban. You should know that.”

  She grimaced. “A hit,” she conceded. “Your son’s either a brave young male, or a fool.”

  Konis grinned, putting a hand out to grip her briefly by the arm in farewell. “He’s no fool, Raiban. He life-bonded with her.”

  *

  As he entered the passenger area, Konis saw Nesul waiting for him.

  “Governor,” he said, going over to sit with him. “I thought you’d have reached Shola several hours ago.” He could sense the other male’s anger and frustration and knew he’d delayed purposely to see him.

  “I waited for you,” said Nesul through clenched teeth. “I need your help.”

  “Of course, Governor. What can I do?”

  “I’m sick of being treated by our military people as if I was some kind of congenital idiot! Dammit all, Konis, they may have positions of power and authority in space, but there’s more to life than out here! They have no appreciation of what it’s like on Shola, or the needs of the ordinary person. And I’ve no real idea of what it’s like off-world,” he said, his voice dropping.