by Jo Zebedee
“I won’t lose my temper,” said Kare. “I’ll present this to Rjala and be civil and polite when I do so. I’ll even kiss his ass if I’m told to.”
***
Rjala sat at her desk. In front of her, Eevan– tall, broad shouldered and imposing– had his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. Kare faced him, his eyes flashing. She’d never known him to be so angry and she wondered if she should intervene, but decided against it. This confrontation had been building for some time. It was better here, with her, than anywhere more public.
“Why the hell didn’t you attack, Eevan?” demanded Kare.
“I think you meant, ‘Why the hell didn’t you attack, sir?’ ” Eevan said.
“Okay. Why didn’t you attack, sir?”
“Because, Major, the planet’s defence systems were still in place,” Eevan said. His emphasis on Kare’s rank seemed to work, as the younger man visibly calmed himself. Rjala relaxed a little.
“The ground units only. You outnumbered the enemy two to one, and I had aerial support for you. Sir,” said Kare, his voice steady.
“It was my call, and your system told you something different than mine. The planet couldn’t be taken.”
Eevan smirked a little more. Rjala saw Kare’s jaw tighten, a flush come up on his cheeks. He hadn’t calmed down. In fact, he was angrier than she’d ever seen him. He reminded her, for the first time, of his father; when she’d first joined the Banned, Ealyn Varnon had commanded the aerial forces with a restrained passion– and a readiness to confront anyone who didn’t match that passion– she hadn’t seen since.
“You didn’t want to take it, you mean. You’re a petty bastard, Eevan.” Kare planted his feet, glaring at the older man.
“Enough, Major,” Rjala said. Time to stop this, before one or both ended up disciplined. “I won’t allow such disrespect to your senior officer. Either back up your claim or back down.”
Kare ran his hand through his hair, before handing her the report he’d brought.
“Yes, ma’am. You want proof. This is the operational data for the Nevagus campaign: troop sizes, planetary defences, space capacity. Also, the detail on the status when our esteemed colonel called off his attack.”
Eevan reached for the report, but Rjala held her hand up, stopping him. She began to look at the clearly laid out figures, her experience making them easy to understand. She took care not to let her face betray her thoughts.
“And this came from where?” Rjala asked.
“My very able number two,” Kare said. “It’s amazing what he’ll do for a day off.”
If Lichio was prepared to build evidence against his brother, he must feel it merited the trouble it would bring him. And Eevan must know what the report contained– his face, red, holding back barely controlled anger, told her that. Damn Kare– he should have brought this to her privately. She looked at Kare, saw his tight jaw, and hoped he knew what he’d done.
“Leave me,” she said, her words clipped. “I’ll call you when I want to see you again.”
She waited for the door to close after them, and read the report through from beginning to end. Twice. There was no room for doubt, nor could this be dealt with by her alone. Kare was right– he was a bastard.
Rjala opened her comms link. “Michael,” she said. “I need an emergency committee meeting.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to talk over the comms. Some people in this base are too technically able.”
He sighed. “Do you want Sonly or will it be a conflict of interest?”
Rjala did a quick calculation. “We need her for quorum. Glen’s off base.”
“We have Eevan.”
“Eevan can’t come: conflict of interest.”
“I see. I’ll round up Sonly, and you can tell us what our two military geniuses have been up to.”
As she waited, Rjala read the report again, made another call, and had just finished when Sonly and Michael entered.
“I hope this is good, Rjala,” Sonly said. “I had a budget meeting. The Peiret fiasco has left a hole in it.”
“Would the Peirets reconsider if I guarantee we’ll take Nevagus in three days?” It was, Rjala knew, grasping at straws.
“No, it’s too late, now.” Sonly looked drained. “It took everything I had to get them to agree this extension. Their ambassador made it clear they would go no further.” She rubbed a hand over her eyes. “In fact, he left just after the attack was aborted. He’s probably halfway across the system by now.”
“We can do nothing about it now.” Michael nodded to Rjala. “Perhaps you’ll tell us why you called us.”
“I had an interesting meeting earlier, where Kare called Eevan a petty bastard.”
“The reason?” asked Michael. His face was impassive, but his eyes watched her, missing nothing.
“The reason Eevan’s a bastard, or the reason Kare called him it?” asked Rjala, struggling to keep her voice calm.
“Start with the first: why’s Eevan a bastard?” Sonly asked. “I could name a couple of reasons, but let’s hear the current one.”
Rjala slapped Lichio’s information on the table. “That. Eevan had the chance to take Nevagus, and chose not to.”
“After the last board meeting?” said Michael, his words sharp.
Rjala nodded and waited for the information to sink in. “I spoke to your other brother, Sonly, who compiled this information.”
“And what did Lichio say?” Sonly asked, her eyes glittering with anger.
“He said he and Kare spent the last month staying late to get aerial support to Nevagus; that they worked very hard to take this planet. He also informs me Kare had the defences down on three occasions, each viable. Lichio said, and I quote, if he had Kare’s talents, Eevan would be a frog by now.”
Sonly gave a short laugh. “I’m sorry, the image, you know.” She sobered up. “Lichio’s right. I’ve almost got to the point where I’ve forgotten I have a partner, he’s been working so much. I’ll have to apologise; I wasn’t very nice this morning.”
“I’d have done more than call Eevan a bastard,” Rjala said. She wondered, briefly, if it was possible to turn someone into a frog. “There’s no doubt about it: the planet should have been taken.”
Michael drummed his fingers. “What do you want to do, Rjala?”
She nodded her thanks for him not imposing a solution on her. “I’ll speak to Kare about his attitude. He can’t call his officer a bastard, and he should have come to me in private. With Eevan– it’s more complicated. He has an impeccable record up to this, and he would have lost men taking the planet. He has some grounds to argue caution but, given the nature of the campaign and its importance, I had made it clear a robust strategy was to be followed. He failed to carry that order through.” She pursed her lips. Eevan le Payne was a strategist. He’d lost more men in battle than Nevagus would have cost. That would not have stopped him. “It’s a personal attack, I think– a way to make Kare look bad.”
“We can’t let it go, Rjala. He ignored an agreed objective,” said Sonly.
Michael nodded. “It has to be a formal warning, on record. And, whilst his motivations may be personal, he didn’t put the Banned first.”
“I genuinely don’t believe this is in character for him,” said Rjala. “He lives and breathes the Banned; I’ve never known him to do anything like this before.”
“It’s a serious incident. Rein him in. Keep him close. And ensure the warning carries the possibility of demotion should any other incident come to our attention."
Rjala winced. “It’s very hard– we have parity…”
“You have authority.”
She shook her head. “Dotted line, only. The board sits over us.”
Michael nodded. “Perhaps a better structure, one that will enable you to keep him under supervision. Promote Kare; he can take over the flight teams.”
Interesting; to do so
would mean accepting Kare was able to stand up to Eevan and had enough kudos of his own. He had the support of the flight teams, she knew– he’d been working with them for three years, now. No one had better knowledge of the Banned systems. Still, she hesitated, thinking of the brooding Eevan and how he’d respond to Kare being equal to him, especially if he was given a warning, too. He broke an agreed objective, one I issued him. I can’t let it pass.
“I think Michael’s right,” Sonly said. “It also frees more of your time for the security remit.”
“If they have parity, who’ll referee?” asked Rjala.
Michael stood up and extended his hand to her. “You, General Rjala; if you’ll accept. Proposed by me.”
“Seconded by me,” Sonly said. She recorded it on the minutes and waited for Rjala’s response.
“It might work,” she said. “Accepted by me.”
***
Sonly walked, as quietly as she could, into the small office in her apartment. She sneaked up behind Kare, who was engrossed in his work, and put her arms around his shoulders.
“I knew you were there,” he said and squeezed her hand.
“You’re no fun.” She kissed the back of his neck, just below his still-cropped hair, before sitting on the table, blocking his view of the screen. She waited until he sighed and pushed his chair back.
“How come you’re here?” he asked. “I thought you had a day with the budgeting committee ahead.”
“I got called away. I heard someone was very rude to their senior officer.”
He rolled his eyes. “There’s nothing private in this base. How did you hear?”
“Your boss called a board meeting. She wants to see you in an hour.”
Kare’s face paled slightly. “Oh, shit,” he said. “I shouldn’t have said it. But he has been blocking me at every opportunity. I couldn’t have let this one go. Even Lichio’s frustrated, and he doesn’t have to work directly with the bastard. Honestly, a saint would have said what I did.”
“You shouldn’t have risen to it,” she told him. But she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t have. Although Kare had to realise there were better, more political, ways of dealing with things. “Or you could have seen Rjala privately.”
“I know. How much shit am I in? Come on, tell me.”
“You know I can’t.” Sonly ignored his pleading eyes– let him learn something from this. Next time he might play the game better, if he had to sweat things a little. “She was annoyed; that’s all I’ll say.”
Kare waited and she smiled, knowing he was trying to read her mood. It had taken months to learn how to stop him, but now she was adept at it. Tell the truth and keep it general had been one of Silom’s best pieces of advice. Fill your mind with so much crap he can’t get to the core was another.
“You’re getting good,” he admitted. He reached past her and dumped the work he’d been doing onto a filche. “I’m going to get a shower; I don’t want to give the colonel another reason to get annoyed.”
He stood but Sonly stopped him, pulling him to her. They kissed for a moment, the usual frustration of a snatched moment away from the demands of the group making it more urgent than it should be, his hands moving on her back. She arched towards him but he broke away and put a finger to her lips.
“I have to get ready,” he said, his voice hoarse. She ran her finger down his jacket and he swallowed, hard. “Be good; this is serious.”
He walked away. Sonly smiled and counted inwardly to herself. She’d reached five before he turned and walked back to her.
“One day, I’m going to find a way to say no to you and mean it,” he said. He kissed her, this time longer and slower. He stopped, the desire clear in his eyes, so intense she felt her stomach lighten, excited. “I have an hour, you said?”
***
Stepping out of Rjala’s office, all Kare could feel from Eevan was anger and hatred, stronger than ever tonight. For a moment, just one, Kare wondered if he had made a mistake, handling this the way he had. No. He’d had no option– it had to be dealt with. Even so, it wouldn’t do any harm to give Eevan his place now.
“Eevan,” he said, “perhaps this is a good time to start afresh.” Eevan sneered, but Kare continued anyway. “I’m friends with your brother, I love your sister, and I’d like to work on a more professional level; mutual respect, if you like.”
“You know the way you’re fucking my sister?” Eevan’s face twisted, removing the resemblance to his father, making him look older and meaner. “The best thing you could do is go fuck yourself instead.”
Don't lose my temper; Lichio's right about that. “Forget I said anything.”
“I’d take you in a moment,” said Eevan. “That’s if you have the balls to face me without using your powers. Or without the general to hide behind, you conniving shit.”
“You know what?” Kare said, his temper building. “I don’t know what hole you crawled out of, Eevan, but you can piss off back into it.”
It wasn’t eloquent, he knew, but at least it summed up his feelings. He turned and walked away, before he could say something worse. Silom strolled over. “I’d have floored him.”
“And give him the pleasure of seeing me disciplined?” Kare tried not to show how close he’d been to doing just that.
“Good point. Can’t you do something else? Ants in his bed, trousers mysteriously loosened?”
Kare grinned, and his anger receded a little. It was good to have Silom back on the base; he didn’t take things as seriously as everyone else, didn’t treat the Banned and its business as untouchable. “Have you been talking to Lichio? Trust Eevan to make it personal, he’s one dislikable sod.”
Silom shrugged. “It’s because he doesn’t have a life outside the army, and you just made him look bad in it. Let him throw his toys around for a day or two.”
“True, but I could do without things like that being flung at me.” Eevan’s words came back to him, the dismissiveness of his and Sonly’s relationship. “You know, I might do something about that.” They reached the apartment and Kare went in to find Sonly grinning at him. “You’re a witch; I thought I was getting demoted.”
“Congratulations.” She sobered, a small frown in place. “How did Eevan react?”
“Oh, you know, poisonous. I did try to say we should find a way to work together. I’ll not repeat what he said. But it made me think there’s something I should ask you.” His throat tightened, the words sticking in it. This was something he should have rehearsed, not decided on at the spur of the moment.
“Go on then.”
He thought about backing out but instead took a deep breath, swallowing his nerves. “Will you marry me?” he asked, the words falling out in a rush. “Eevan said something about you and me, something crass. I just thought, I’m proud of what we have.”
“Marry?”
She was going to say no– he hadn’t thought of that. This had been a mistake. He should have set something up, ordered some dinner in, made it romantic. Too late to think of that now. Instead, he went down on one knee and looked up at her. She blushed, and warmth spread through him, a tingling in his arms and legs. This was the right thing to do, something he should have thought of long ago.
“I love you. Please, Sonly, marry me. Be my wife." He waited just a moment, and decided he couldn’t resist saying it. “Piss your big brother off.”
She smiled, her eyes full of mischief, dancing in the soft light. “Well, if you put it like that: yes, I’d be delighted to.”
“You will?” He forced himself to take a deep breath and got up. He moved to kiss her, but she stopped him, a look of horror on her face.
“What is it?”
“What will I wear?”
“You’d look lovely whatever you wore,” he told her, pushing her hair back from her face. “But it doesn’t have to happen overnight. Take your time, make sure it’s the way you want it– you’ll only do it once.” He pause
d, not wanting to push his luck. “Well, hopefully, anyway.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Sonly smoothed her dress down, a little embarrassed by how special it made her feel. The traditional deep blue suited her fair hair well, and the long, sleek cut emphasised her slim figure. “Does it suit me?”
Lichio stopped fiddling with the sleeve of his formal uniform, tucking an end of red braid out of sight, and looked her up and down. “You’ll do.”
Brothers. Just once, it might have been nice to have a sister. “No, really.”
Lichio grinned. “You look lovely. Dad would have been really proud. So would Mum. And they would have been pleased with your choice, I think.”
“I hope so. He liked Ealyn, despite everything that happened, and Kare has a way about him– an intensity– that reminds me of Ealyn.” She checked the time. “Will Eevan come?”
“He should.” Lichio pushed her hair behind her ears. “It doesn’t matter anyway.”
“You know I asked him to stand for me,” admitted Sonly. She pulled her hair forward. “Don’t do that– I don’t want to look like I’m working.”
“Of course you did. You know better than to ignore him. It’s a good thing he didn’t, though; he’d have spent the day glaring at the groom.”
She laughed and then sobered. “The groom’s response might have been a problem. I’ve warned him he’s to do nothing to Eevan today, no matter how much he’s provoked.”
“Spoilsport, think how it could have livened things up.” Lichio held out his arm. “Ready?” She took it and they started to walk through the base. “I’m glad it’s me, Sonly.”
They reached the door of the Banned’s small chapel, and when it opened she was amazed to see how many people were squeezed in. The Banned always enjoyed a wedding– there was little enough to celebrate– but this was more than she’d ever expected. Her team had softened the look of the room with jungle flowers in jars around the room, their blues and violets matching the off-cuts of her dress tied in bows around them.
There was a murmur as some of the guests noticed her, and then the room went silent. Her stomach jumped with nerves and she tightened her grip on Lichio’s arm.
