STARDANCER

by Ed Howdershelt

  She chuckled as she leaned back and said, "Good. I needed a little time off."

  Chapter Twenty-five

  T'Mar took the controls to land them on the boulder-strewn beach of the lake. The remains of a prefabricated cabin stood slightly up the slope from the beach and the nearest trees were nearly a hundred paces away in all directions.

  The guard leader directed that two of their flitters should orbit the area continuously and sent the two men who had arrived in his own flitter to check out the cabin. He approached L'Tan and T'Mar and saluted.

  Without preamble, he said, "I don't like this place, ma'am. There are too many places to hide around here. I also don't like sneaking off to the woods without time enough to send people to check things out. That's for the record, ma'am."

  "Your concern is noted," said L'Tan. "For the record, as it were. And thank you for having nerve enough to say something about it."

  The guard captain looked at her impassively for a moment, then said, "Ma'am, Admiral T'Bar told me to tell you if I thought you or Commander T'Mar, here, were screwing up. That makes it my job to tell you that I think you're screwing up by being out here. I've got nine men to cover a place that should rate at least thirty."

  T'Mar asked, "You were mobile infantry, weren't you, Captain?"

  "That's right, sir. Still am, as far as I'm concerned."

  Looking around, T'Mar said, "So was I. I know what you mean about this place, but we didn't exactly announce our plans, and there was a good reason for coming here today."

  "Sure hope so, sir. If anything happens..."

  "Then do your best," said T'Mar. "But the only way anyone would know where we are would involve surveillance. The flitters are traceable, but you have two in the air, so nobody is going to just fly in here like we did without a challenge. I checked out this place and several others like it two weeks ago, Captain. Ownership of this area was in dispute for quite some time prior to the plague, so nobody was allowed to live here. That's why the cabin is a run-down wreck. The only hostile locals might be the wildlife around the lake."

  The man still seemed skeptical. T'Mar picked up a flat, hand-sized stone and handed it to him.

  Patting his holstered pistol and thumbing toward the water's edge, T'Mar said, "Throw it."

  The guardsman looked hard at T'Mar for only a split second. Without warning of any sort, he spun and heaved the stone at the water. The stone skipped once, twice, and then disappeared in a flash of plasma as T'Mar's shot hit it.

  L'Tan's surprise was very evident on her face as T'Mar reholstered his pistol. The guardsman's comm badge asked, "Captain! What was that? We read a..."

  "You read a pistol discharge," said the Captain. "Commander T'Mar wanted to impress me with his marksmanship. Things are fine down here."

  Turning to T'Mar, he said, "Maybe you aren't just another desk pilot, sir, but I'm still not happy about being out here in the open with the number one target on the planet. That's all I have to say. Now I'll get on with my job."

  Without further comment, he saluted and turned to return to his flitter as he contacted the two men he'd sent to investigate the cabin.

  "Captain," said L'Tan.

  He turned to face her. "Yes, ma'am?"

  "Thank you. Don't ever think that I don't want to hear what you have to say about something. I may not follow your advice every time, but I respect it and I do want to hear it."

  The Captain's face was impassive as he said, "Count on it, ma'am," then he saluted and turned to continue his journey.

  L'Tan faced T'Mar and studied him for a moment as he started undressing, then she, too, began making a pile of her outer clothing. When both were down to their swimwear, T'Mar briefly examined her suit for surveillance dots.

  Finding none, he said, "All set, miLady."

  She looked at him questioningly and he shook his head, then they headed for the water. As they swam in neck-deep water between the noisy, cascading fountain and the waterfall, T'Mar said, "Now we can talk, I think. There could be a dot in your hair, I suppose. Or mine. They're so damned small, after all."

  "Do you think the noise here will scramble things enough?"

  "With today's technology, I'm not really sure, but we need to talk. This was the best I could come up with on short notice."

  "Who do you think tagged us?"

  "First guess: T'Bar's people, with or without T'Bar's knowledge. Second guess: anybody else."

  L'Tan grinned and said, "That doesn't narrow it down much, T'Mar."

  "Sorry."

  "All they're going to get is daily business as usual. Are the dots the only reason for bringing me out here?"

  T'Mar shook his head. "No. I don't think the flitter bomb was the act of a revolutionary, L'Tan. I think it was done to help legitimize an effort to make the present system more permanent."

  She didn't act too surprised at his words. "Explain."

  "We have no enemies left, L'Tan. None other than the pirates, and they're proving to be a fairly minimal problem. Within the forseeable future, things will be back to normal as much as that may be possible, given the circumstances. That will end the emergency and leave a huge supply and service engine out of a job. I don't think everyone involved truly wants to see that happen."

  L'Tan draped a hand over a rock outcropping and dangled herself in the water as she faced T'Mar. She seemed to be studying his face as he reached upward to cling to a similar point of rock.

  "Well?" she asked. "Are you going to tell me why you think that?"

  He shook his head. "I can't give you much more than a gut feeling right now. Things just don't feel right about the bombing. Two men were called away from their posts at about the right time. No replacements during their absence. Flitter codes are changed every month, but for some reason, several were overlooked this month. I find that odd, L'Tan. I was military. You were military. Don't you find that kind of oversight just a little odd?"

  L'Tan's voice held conviction. "Very odd. In my outfits or aboard my ship, it wouldn't have happened. Maybe they were in use and the recoding had to wait?"

  "Two were in use, but none were unavailable for recoding. A sergeant named L'Mel has been charged with negligence, but I took a look at her record. I don't buy it, L'Tan. She isn't the kind who would screw up a routine job."

  "In your opinion, that is?"

  "In my opinion. She's the detail-conscious type they use for running inspections. Everything in its place, spotless, functioning perfectly..."

  "I get your meaning. What are they saying? How was she supposedly negligent concerning the flitters?"

  "They haven't said. They've only charged her because she was left in charge of the vehicle pool's security that day. Could be that they expect an investigation to turn up some kind of proof. Could even be that the proof will be manufactured to fit the charges."

  L'Tan dangled for a moment, lifting her legs in the water until her toes barely broke the surface. Some small fish swam by, apparently unconcerned about the two huge entities in their realm.

  "T'Mar, is that really all you've got to go on?"

  "At present, yes."

  "You brought me out here because you don't know who to trust, obviously. Who can we put on this to sniff out the facts?"

  "My old outfit works with and for your people these days, L'Tan. It would have to be someone outside the system, and I've had a thought about that. A man named T'Gel. He trained me and he's retired now. I could make it look like a reunion and a cook's tour of the facilities. If we put him on staff..."

  "As what? An advisory-assistant spook? What else can he do?"

  "His last job was that of a cruise director. He was the entertainment coordinator aboard a ship when the plague hit. I've been thinking that we might be able to use him as a volunteer courier and general assistant around the offices."

  "What's he doing now? Since the plague, I mean?"

  "He organized a few hundred people to fill empty service positions and keep the machinery of civiliz
ation running in his town, then he found someone to fill his own slot."

  L'Tan looked surprised. "Why did he step down? Poor health?"

  "He did it because after I went there to talk to him about things, I asked him to be ready for a new job, L'Tan."

  Her gaze narrowed slightly. "Without consulting me?"

  T'Mar nodded. "Without consulting you. Sorry."

  She grinned slightly. "Sure you are. I want to meet him first, T'Mar."

  He grinned at her. "No problem. Sometime in the next few days, I'll spot his name on some list and call him for a reunion. One other thing, L'Tan... T'Gel isn't one of our strongest supporters. He let me know that he had some very mixed feelings about the military taking over essential services."

  "But you still want to bring him aboard?"

  "Sure do. He won't trust anyone involved. That makes him right for the job."

  After spending some time swimming and sunning on the rock shelf that formed the waterfall, they headed back to the beach. The dour captain of the guards almost seemed happy as he called an end to the excursion, even though he never actually said as much aloud as he organized their departure.

  As planned, T'Mar spotted T'Gel's name on a roster some days later and made a show of bringing his old instructor to the capitol for a visit. His arrival was scheduled for the end of the work week so that another outing at the lake could be arranged, this time allowing the guard captain some advance notice. The guard captain, while still openly unenthusiastic about the lake area, set up the visit.

  When L'Tan, T'Mar, and T'Gel arrived at the lakeshore, they saw that it had been rearranged somewhat to suit the guard captain's beliefs about defensibility. Some of the large boulders were gone and others had been moved. Surveying the new arrangement, T'Mar looked for concealed guards in the woodline and was able to spot only a few before the guard captain approached.

  "You should be able to see three of them," said the captain.

  "Three it is," said T'Mar. "Bait?"

  "Just obvious guards; visible, but well-protected. They'd have to be dealt with, and that would give the others -- the ones you can't see -- time to act."

  T'Mar nodded and said, "Good. Tell me, Captain; do you have any opinions about politics?" T'Mar thumbed toward L'Tan. "About L'Tan in particular?"

  The captain glanced at L'Tan, who was already down to her swimsuit. His eyes lingered on her briefly before he said, "Not about politics. Definitely about her, though. Fine looking woman, if I may say so, sir. She seems to know how to get things done, too. Things could be a helluva lot worse."

  T'Mar grinned. "Agreed on all points. The man who is with us today may become a fixture, Captain. I want him aboard, but L'Tan wants to talk to him first. If he comes aboard, he'll be looking into a few things for us. Do you think you can help him gather some information?"

  "I guess that would depend on what kind of information, sir."

  "We want to know who really set that bomb, Captain. We want to know why."

  The captain grunted and looked at T'Mar for a long few moments before answering, "One of my people has been blamed for letting it happen. Are you sure I'm the one to ask for help, sir?"

  T'Mar asked, "The woman they're holding? I read her file, Captain. She's so tight her butt squeaks when she walks. It feels like a setup to me. If they don't come up with some solid evidence in the very near future, I'm going to tell them to let her go. L'Tan will back me on it."

  With a nod, the captain said, "Thank you, but I'd like something more conclusive and I'm sure she would, too. Two people were called away by emergencies and she was left alone to cover six security boards. It almost had to be deliberate, sir. Nothing like that's ever happened in the nine years I've been here. If your friend will look into that for me..."

  "Count on it, Captain. Guess I'd better get ready to swim, now."

  The captain nodded and walked away as T'Mar turned to approach L'Tan and T'Gel. A few moments later, the three of them were hanging under the fountain.

  "What do you think?" asked L'Tan. "Can we trust him?"

  "Doesn't matter whether we can or not," said T'Mar. "We can't afford to trust anyone until we know what's happening, why, and who's behind things, but he can get T'Gel where he needs to go or show him how to get there."

  Turning to T'Gel with a grin, he asked, "Well? Have you been out of the business so long that I'll actually have to tell you to be careful?"

  T'Gel grinned back and asked, "Were you under the impression that I got this old by accident?"

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Two weeks passed uneventfully and no further information about the bombing had surfaced. T'Mar sat next to L'Tan's desk one morning as she riffled through a small stack of documents requiring her signature.

  "They let Sgt. L'Mel out yesterday," said T'Mar. "All that they've managed to prove is that she was left alone to cover a 3-man job and that the flitter code reset had to have been done by someone who's either military or ex-military. They've dissected her personal and professional lives and come up with nothing but shining examples."

  L'Tan nodded. "Good. Hand me that folder on the corner of the desk, T'Mar."

  T'Mar passed her the folder and said, "You know, L'Tan, that if you'd use a real office of your own instead of just having a desk out here in the open, we could probably get away with things that we can't even think about doing out here."

  "Poor deprived T'Mar," said L'Tan, studying a folder that would need later attention. "You're half the reason I don't want to use an office. I can actually get some work done out here."

  T'Mar said, "But all the other supreme galactic leaders I've ever met have their own offices. It just isn't natural, ma'am. What will people think?"

  "Maybe they'll think I'm more than just a pretty face," said L'Tan. "Look at this pile. First thing in the morning, every damned morning. I think there must be an office somewhere that does nothing but generate paperwork for me."

  T'Mar didn't give up.

  "Didn't you know? We set it up about two days after we dropped the crown on your head. L'Tan, I'm clear until three. I'm desperate. Let's take an early lunch."

  She laughed softly at his display of mock desperation and said, "T'Mar, I can't. You know I can't. Why do you even ask?"

  "Maybe because you might say yes?" He leaned confidentially and said, "And maybe because I still harbor this all-consuming lust for you. Give in, lady. Let's go back to the room and tell everybody we're working on something top secret."

  L'Tan laughed again and slapped the stack of documents in front of her.

  "Sure. Like they'd believe that for a whole minute. Forget it, T'Mar. Look at this stuff. I'll be lucky to get out of here for lunch at all."

  T'Mar had been idly fiddling with a sheet of paper. As L'Tan watched, the paper slowly became a tightly-folded flower that opened at the bottom. He reached to place the flower atop her desk's vid screen and noticed a mote of dust wafting gently toward the screen.

  As he gathered a breath to blow the dust mote away from the monitor, he was saved the trouble by some unseen force that caused the dust mote to veer sharply downward in front of the monitor and plummet to the desk.

  Odd, he thought, These screens are usually dust magnets. If you don't clean them once a week, they become opaque from all the damned dust.

  L'Tan snickered and said, "T'Mar, that won't work, either. You can hold your breath as long as you want, but I'm too busy to leave."

  T'Mar realized that he'd been so struck by the odd behavior of the dust mote that he'd forgotten to release his unnecessarily contained breath. He chose to use it to blast some dust from the desk upward toward the screen. All of the visible dust motes scattered around the monitor as if they were afraid to touch it.

  L'Tan watched his performance with casual interest and a smile of amusement, but when he went so far as to try to redirect the flittering specs of dust toward the screen, she shook her head and went back to her documents.

  She said, "Be sure to give
my screen a wipe when you're through playing."

  The 'incoming message' block on the screen began flashing as it always did for thirty seconds every time a new message arrived. L'Tan reached to touch the block and activate the display, but T'Mar grabbed her arm and pulled her hand toward his face, where he kissed her fingers to give the abrupt motion an obvious purpose.

  He quietly said, "Get away from the desk, L'Tan. Make it look casual."

  L'Tan tried to pull her hand free of his and said, "Enough is enough, T'Mar. I said no. Go make yourself busy and I'll see you at lunch."

  T'Mar shook his head. "This isn't about that. Something's wrong with your vid screen. Now get up and get away from this desk as if nothing's wrong. Go to the restroom or something. Get out of this room."

  She looked at him in surprise for a moment, saw that he apparently wasn't kidding in the least, and put down the documents she'd been looking through.

  "Okay," she said.

  When he released her hand, L'Tan got up and walked toward the restroom. T'Mar sat casually beside the desk until she'd gone through the doorway, looking around to see if anyone displayed more than a passing interest in events at L'Tan's desk.

  Seeing nobody showing any particular interest, he drummed his fingers on the desk as if impatient, then stood up and walked over to the reception desk by the front doors. There was a large envelope in the inbox.

  He picked up the envelope and waved it over his head as he loudly said, "It's here, people! Big news. Gather 'round."

  "What's here?" asked the receptionist. "That's the..."

  "Quiet," said T'Mar. "Go with me on this. I have an announcement to make."

  When the nine people who made up L'Tan's office staff had gathered around the receptionist's desk, he told the receptionist to go get L'Tan.

  "Can't have the boss miss this, can we? She's in the rest room. Hurry back."

  The receptionist gave him an odd look, but she went in search of L'Tan. A few moments later, she and L'Tan emerged from the rest room and approached T'Mar with looks of vast skepticism.

  As soon as all were gathered near him, T'Mar made as if to open the envelope, then pretended to have second thoughts.