The terms of Keiss’ membership in the Allied Worlds were still being negotiated by Carrie’s father, Peter Hamilton, now President of Keiss, but aid had been granted to them on the grounds that the Alliance was on a war footing and arming Keiss was a priority. Consequently everything had been in a state of flux for months and was just beginning to sort itself out.
Adequate residential bases had been built on Keiss’ moon and blasting had started for the mining complex. Planetary defense was currently being supplied by the Sholan battleship the Khalossa—still in orbit—and its complement of smaller offensive craft, but Keiss needed its own ships as the Sholan forces were already stretched to capacity.
Specialists from the Alliance had been shipped in from every related field to get the Human colony up and running on a high-tech level. No one could afford to wait for them to evolve their own technology naturally. Defense was needed now, as were the raw materials and industries to support the nascent space-faring society.
Captain Skinner was now the Commanding Officer of Keiss’ military forces, liaising from the surface with Commander Raguul and his officers on the Khalossa. It hadn’t started out that way, Jo remembered. When Keiss was clear of the Valtegans and the colonists on the Eureka had been awakened, brought down to the planet and apprised of the situation there, she and all the others involved with the Sholans had been shouldered to the side as the newcomers had taken over. Being fresh from the home world and therefore more up to date with Earth’s attitudes, they had assumed the positions of power on the planet.
They had reckoned without Commander Raguul though, Jo grinned. By refusing to negotiate with anyone but the Humans he knew and trusted, he had Peter Hamilton and Skinner reinstated in positions of authority. Keiss, in his opinion, needed to be governed by those who had lived under the yoke of the Valtegans, knew the enormity of the task they faced, and were capable of making the necessary hard decisions.
It had been from Skinner’s office that the summons had come, bringing her away from the prefabricated labs where she was working.
Jo elbowed her way past the people around the entrance, rubbing shoulders with Sholans and Sumaan. She hardly noticed them now, a sign in itself of the changes around her. Seaport was becoming very cosmopolitan. Not surprising, she thought, considering that the spaceport had been built a few kilometers away.
She sighed with relief as the elevator door closed. It was empty. She hated crowds. Well, she hated being jostled by strangers. It wasn’t so bad with the aliens, it was the large numbers of humans she couldn’t take.
The elevator came to a stop, doors opening to reveal an empty corridor. She headed to the right for Commander Skinner’s office. Opening the door, she saw Davies sitting in the reception area.
“Hi there,” he said. “You get a royal summons, too?”
“Yes. Any idea what it’s about?” she asked, sitting down beside him.
His eyes moved toward the secretary who sat behind a large desk guarding the door into Commander Skinner’s inner sanctum. Leaning sideways he began to talk very softly.
“Anders says there’s been a flutter of excitement on the Khalossa over the last couple of days.”
“Are he and Mito still together?” she asked, surprised. “I thought it would be a one-night wonder for that ambitious Sholan lady.”
“Apparently not. She spent most of her leave planetside if there was a shuttle coming down, until she managed to wangle a posting out with us at Geshader.”
“Interesting. Maybe I should have a chat with Anders.”
Davies chuckled. “Oh, he’s not the only one. There’s another couple of the men with Sholan girls. Dr. Reynolds has tried to worm information out of them, but they aren’t saying anything.”
“But no more women.”
“Only Carrie, unless you count those the Sholans call qwenes—that’s prostitutes to you and me. Mito says there are a couple more mixed Leska pairs from among the telepaths who went from Shola to Earth.”
“Men or women?”
“Our people? No idea. I don’t think Mito had either.” He looked faintly surprised. “Why?”
“Just a hunch, that’s all,” she said. “Anyway, this flurry on the Khalossa.”
“Uh? Oh, they’re refitting a twelve-man scouter with armaments and the capability for deep-space flight. I’d say there’s a mission looming in the very near future, one urgent enough not to wait for a larger FTL passenger vehicle and escort.”
“And you think it involves us?”
“Not a chance, but I think it might involve the Valtegans, and what have you and I been working on?”
“Valtegan artifacts,” she said obligingly, hoping he’d go on.
“What do you bet …” he began but was cut off by the secretary.
“Commander Skinner will see you now,” he said.
*
“Jo, Davies,” said the Commander, looking up as they came in. “Good to see you. You’ve gone up in rank, too, I see,” he grinned, getting up and coming round from behind his desk.
“Please, sit down,” he said, indicating the easy chairs set around a low coffee table. “They’re bringing some coffee for us. Bit different from the old days, eh?”
He looks tired, she thought as he sat down. His previously tanned complexion was paler now that his rank kept him mainly indoors.
They’d all been fitter during the days of the Resistance, but he’d kept his figure, not gone to fat like some of the younger men. Stockily built, with thinning fair hair and piercing blue eyes, at fifty-two he was still a fine figure of a man.
A knock and the door opened to admit an orderly with a tray of coffee and biscuits.
“Help yourselves,” he said, taking his mug. He noticed Jo’s quizzical glance. “Can’t stand cups, you never get a decent sized drink in them. One of the many Sholan improvements I agree with.”
She grinned, picking up one of them.
“I hear you’re both working on the remains of Valtegan technology.”
Jo glanced at Davies. “Yes, I’m in the lab over in the new part of town.”
“I’m based at what’s left of Geshader,” said Davies.
Commander Skinner nodded. “I’m told it’s a mixed team.”
“Yes. I have a couple of sects of Touiban computer experts as well as a Sumaan electronics engineer,” said Jo. “The Touibans are reconfiguring Sholan computers for our use and designing the programs to my specs.”
“We have a couple of Sumaan working on engineering as well as helping sort through the heavier equipment,” said Davies. “Their strength is a real time-saver, especially in areas where you can’t fit in lifting equipment.”
“No problems with the Sumaan or Touibans?”
“No,” said Jo. “Why should there be? We all know enough basic Sholan for us to understand each other. At first, the curiosity of the Touibans was—disconcerting,” she said with a grin, “but they’ve settled down as team members.”
Davies began to grin.
“From the look on your face, Davies, doubtless your grapevine is still as good as ever,” said Commander Skinner. “Especially now you have a line to the Khalossa.”
Davies’ face fell.
“Come off it, man,” said Skinner, smiling. “You don’t think I lived and worked with the lot of you for all those years without getting to know you, do you? Or that I wasn’t aware of most of the scams you and Skai were pulling? You were a tightly knit group then, the best I had. That’s why I never interfered.”
Jo drained her mug and put it back on the table. “Where are we going?”
Skinner’s smile faded. “Jalna. A planet never contacted by the Alliance despite the fact the Chemerians have been trading there for fifty or more years. It’s deep in Chemerian space.”
“Why?” asked Davies.
“The Valtegan ship that was based here parked in orbit around Jalna a few weeks ago and traded for supplies. They sold four Sholans to the natives.”
“Sol
d!” exclaimed Jo. “What kind of people are these Jalnians? And where the hell did the Valtegans get the Sholans from?”
“The Jalnians are humanoid like us, which is why we’ve been asked to send a team there. As for the Sholans, they were probably picked up from one of the two Sholan colony worlds that were destroyed. You aren’t going there because of the Sholans. Two shuttles landed on Jalna, one traded and left. The other landed briefly, and illegally, outside the spaceport, then crashed on takeoff. That’s the one we want you to investigate. The Alliance needs to know what the Valtegans were doing at Jalna and they think that craft holds the key.”
“Haven’t the Jalnians examined it?” asked Davies.
“Not yet apparently. It’s in an isolated area several weeks’ travel from the nearest town and their tech level is virtually nonexistent. Briefly, several other species unknown to the Alliance trade at the spaceport on the planet but no aliens are allowed out of the port area. Only humanoids can travel undetected among the Jalnians.”
“What about the four Sholans?” asked Davies.
“Not our concern. The Sholans are sending in another team shortly to rescue them. Information on the Valtegans is our priority. Jo, you’re going because you’re the Valtegan language expert. I don’t think anyone else in the Alliance knows as much as you do about them.”
“I know very little,” she murmured.
“It’s still more than anyone else,” replied Skinner. “Davies, you’re going along as the engineer and electronics expert. I don’t need to tell you how important getting this job done successfully is to us as a species, do I?”
“No, sir,” said Davies.
“You’ll get a full briefing on Shola. The Jalnian culture is apparently comparable with our Dark Ages so you’re going to the Warrior Guild for a crash course in the appropriate weapon skills. You can’t use guns on Jalna, only edged weapons. You’ll also pick up the third member of your team there.”
“Who else is going?” asked Davies.
“A human Telepath is being chosen from the Guild to go down onto the planet with you. There’ll be a team of Sumaan elite Warriors as backup in the Chemerian trading vessel in case you run into trouble in the port area. Your contact on that craft will be a Sholan Telepath.”
“When do we leave?” asked Jo.
“At sixteen hundred hours today from the spaceport. I’m sorry it’s such short notice, but the whole mission has been mounted as a matter of urgency. No one has had much warning.” Commander Skinner got to his feet, Jo and Davies following suit. “We need to reach that craft before the Jalnians. Take care, and good luck.”
As they traveled down in the elevator, Davies turned to Jo, letting out a long breath.
“I don’t know about you, but I could do with a beer after that.”
“Sure,” said Jo. “I don’t like the sound of Jalna. If we’ve got to dodge slavers as well as everything else, this could be very tricky. On top of that, we’ve to learn new weapon skills.”
“Blow that. I’ll certainly be taking a gun, and so will you if you’ve got any sense,” said Davies as the elevator doors opened on the ground floor.
*
The following day found Kusac and Carrie relaxing in the small bay where his estate bordered on the main Aldatan land. Carrie was a lot better, though still very tired, which Kusac deduced was due to her using her own healing ability.
“They’re bringing Jo and Davies to Shola, and you kept it from me?” said Carrie in disbelief.
“Father actually told me yesterday but I wanted to talk to him about it before telling you,” said Kusac, squatting back down on the sandy beach beside her. “If you want to see them, he’ll arrange for them to be brought out here secretly. He wants us out of the public eye for as long as possible, and I agree with him.”
“What’s going on?” she asked suspiciously, trying to push herself one-handedly up from among her nest of cushions. “Why are Jo and Davies coming to Shola?”
Kusac’s arm steadied her. “Father won’t tell me.”
“Damn! I want to know.”
“Don’t worry,” Kusac grinned, ears twitching. “I’ve got Kaid onto it. If anyone can find out, he can.”
“What would they want with two Terran guerrillas on Shola?”
“Not just guerrillas. Don’t forget that Davies is also a tech, so is Jo.”
“Jo’s also a linguist, a Valtegan specialist, and has at least some small telepathic talent,” she said slowly, thinking it through.
“Valtegans?” said Kusac. “Perhaps that’s the connection.”
“Could be. But why here? There’re no Valtegans near here, are there? I know the Guild has found bones in the ruins, but they were left there centuries ago.”
“If Shola was in danger, Father would tell us instantly. We’ll find out soon, don’t worry,” Kusac reassured her, sensing her fear through their Link.
He gave her a little shake, knowing how deep her fear of the Valtegans went despite her attempt to hide it.
“Carrie, this isn’t Keiss, or the two colony worlds we lost. This is our home world. We’ve got the best military force in the Alliance sitting out there protecting us. There is no way the Valtegans can get anywhere near us. Not just that, we’d feel their presence if they were near Shola, wouldn’t we?”
She nodded reluctantly as she leaned back against him, drawing strength from his presence.
“How’s the research going?” he asked. “Are you back up to date with what you’d done before?”
“I’ve just finished reading through it.”
“Have you found anything that could refer to the presence of the Valtegans?”
She gestured toward the comp pad she’d brought with her. “I’m checking through the last of the Telepath Clans’ family records now,” she said. “Most of them are genealogies. Did you know the Aldatan Clan records go back well over a thousand years?”
“I know we’re one of the oldest clans on Shola, and that this land has always been ours.”
“Funny thing is, all the records stop about fourteen hundred years ago, about the same time that the Valsgarth Clan died out. So I started doing some cross-referencing with the records of the other guilds. Yes,” she said, forestalling him, “I did remember to use the security code your father gave us. My calls can’t be traced.”
“What did you find?”
“All guild records come to a stop at the same time. Or,” she said, “to put it another way, all the records I’ve looked at begin around fifteen hundred years ago.”
“That must be when we came out of the Cataclysm.”
“Taizia mentioned it. What actually happened? Could it have anything to do with the Valtegan bones Vanna was shown?”
“I’ve no idea. No one knows exactly what happened, but there are records at the temple and Stronghold of dreams similar to the one that your Healer, Noni, told you about. I contacted Ghyan yesterday and he’s researching them as well as the En’Shalla rituals. All that is certain is that at some time in our past, an immense disaster struck the planet, wiping out civilization as it was at the time. I’d be very surprised if it involved the Valtegans, though.”
“Then what was that skeleton doing in the ruins? I suppose it’s possible those remains are the only ones, but I’m sure that’s highly unlikely. Haven’t any ruins ever been excavated just for the sake of finding out what’s there?” she asked.
“Not as far as I’m aware. They’re certainly only used now as a rich source of ancient refined metals. I don’t know that much about it, I’m afraid. It wasn’t the province of my Guild.”
“So you have a Dark Ages in your past, but one that hasn’t been studied.”
“As far as I know, very few people are interested in such ancient times. It’s the achievements since then that concern our Guild Historians.”
“This has me intrigued. Why is there no interest in your far past? Has it been suppressed? Your racial history only exists as the individual records of each
guild. There isn’t an overview of it. What happened that was so awful that a whole planet of people conspired to cover it up?”
“Not a whole planet,” said Kusac. “The Guild Leaders, perhaps, but more than likely we’re looking at the Telepath Guild again. If the priests on your world carried the burden of recording major events of the times, then likely ours did, too. They had the time and the learning to do it, after all.”
“And all priests are Telepaths,” added Carrie. She hesitated a moment. “An outrageous idea, I know, but what if this had been a Valtegan world and Sholans were the aliens here? If they’d overthrown the Valtegans and wanted to claim the world for themselves, then they’d suppress the past, wouldn’t they?”
Kusac’s ears flicked in amusement. “An interesting idea, Carrie, but we definitely evolved on this world. Look at the other species here—the jeggets for one. They may be only animals but they have a rudimentary form of telepathy. And how do you account for the fact that had this been a Valtegan world, there was no retributive action taken against us for wiping them out here?”
“Maybe it’s taken them this long to find you again,” she said with a grin. “I said it was only a theory, I didn’t say it was a good one!”
Kusac laughed and flicked her nose gently with a finger. “Did you find out what you wanted to know about the Telepath families?”
“Oh, yes, I’d almost forgotten. There is a pattern,” she said, reaching out to pull the comp pad closer. “I made my own notes which are easier to look at than flipping between the records.” She touched the buttons, bringing several sets of figures and diagrams up on the small screen.
“When the records start, you can see that there were far more telepaths and Leska pairs. However, over the generations, despite a definite breeding program among the families, the numbers of Talented offspring has fallen. It’s continuing to fall even today, though at a slower rate. No wonder the Guild and your father are concerned.”
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