The Army Of Light (Kestrel Saga)

by Fender, Stephen

  “You know,” he replied defiantly, “I risked my ass out there for you. You could at least humor me.”

  She turned away in frustration, and the ensuing silence told Shawn that his line of questioning was over. He decided to try something else. “Speaking of the OSI, how did your meeting with the Director go?”

  Melissa held her wrists aloft for his inspection. “Well, as you can see, I wasn’t arrested.”

  “Still, I’m sure he wasn’t happy.”

  “No,” she replied in a hushed tone. “The Director was definitely not that.”

  “So, you did disobey direct orders?”

  She blinked once and then nodded slowly. “In a manner of speaking.”

  “How so?” He’d been there, done that himself on more than one occasion. So, who was he to judge? In fact, something about her having a rebellious streak endeared him to her even more.

  “I was a senior supervisor with the OSI That means I was a command level agent.”

  The plot thickens. A typical field agent was something to fear by themselves, but a commanding agent was downright fear-provoking. Shawn knew full well that their abilities and procedures were almost above the law. “That’s pretty high up on the chain of command.”

  “Not high enough, it seemed. The files on my father’s disappearance had been sealed and not even I could read them. So, I tried to gain access to them by other means.”

  Shawn was beginning to see the picture. “I’ll bet they didn’t like that very much.”

  She shook her head. “When I was… denied, I began an investigation of my own. When the OSI got wind of my snooping, I was told to back off. Any other agent would have been terminated on the spot”

  Shawn was quite sure by her tone that the word ‘terminated’ didn’t just mean being fired. Melissa must have had some serious clout in the department. It wouldn’t have been a fate easily sidestepped. “And, of course, you couldn’t do that, could you?” Shawn offered matter-of-factly.

  Done with pretenses of being a simple ‘lady in distress’, she held her hands out to appeal instead to his common sense. “Damn it, Shawn! It was my father. You know him, probably just as well as I do. You should know I couldn’t. So, that’s when I left.”

  “And you came looking for me?”

  “Actually, you weren’t my first choice… or my second. Even though my father requested I find you before I did anything else, I had others in the OSI that I trusted… others I thought would help.” She turned from his gaze and inspected a spot of dirt on the bulkhead.

  “And, based on the fact you eventually ended up in my hangar and then on my ship, can I infer that they didn’t give you the kind of help you were looking for?”

  “A few did, but most didn’t,” she stepped to the side of the room, running her hand thoughtfully over the smooth vinyl surface of one of the couches in the lounge. “It’s a curious thing how many would-be friends fall by the wayside when you hit a rough patch.”

  “Well, becoming a fugitive is a little more complicated than just a rough patch.”

  She turned her attention back to him fully. “I was provided some credits, an alias, and passage on a high speed shuttle to Minos. You’re the only person my father mentioned with such high regards, and, well, you just happen to be the only one—”

  “The only one not still in the service,” he completed, remembering it from one of the first conversations they’d had.

  “I was going to say the only one not under the jurisdiction of the Unified government, but essentially, yes.”

  “And what if I didn’t want to help you? What would you have done then?”

  “I would have gone out on my own. I can handle myself, Captain, if you hadn’t noticed. The only reason I got caught when I did was because I was on your ship.”

  He smiled faintly, remembering both how well she’d handled herself at Jack’s place and of how she’d danced when held in his arms on Persephone. If that was just a taste of her skills, then she was quite the talented agent. “So, you must know all about me then, what with your clearance and everything. I’ll bet you scoured my record and found every little sordid detail that intelligence has on me, didn’t you? After all, that is the best way to manipulate people into getting them to do what you want, isn’t it?

  Melissa lifted her hands in a defensive posture. “No, no. You don’t understand. Your records are… were sealed as well.”

  “Why?”

  She shook her head slowly. “At the time, I didn’t know why.”

  “But you do now?” Shawn was more than a bit curious. His mind raced with everything he’d done during his tenure with Sector Command, wondering what he’d seen or overheard that would have caused his file to be sealed with such a high classification that even a top OSI agent couldn’t access it.

  “I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to discuss that with you right now.”

  Shawn felt the wall of secrecy descend again like a steel curtain. He had to remind himself that he was still on the outside looking in. “So, they didn’t fire you, but you still can’t talk about it? I don’t get it.”

  “No,” she cast her eyes to the deck in embarrassment. “They didn’t fire me.”

  “Well, what exactly did they do to you?”

  She looked into Shawn’s eyes, searching for a hint of compassion. “Come on, Shawn. After what I did to you… what I put you through and all of the lies… don’t tell me you are at all concerned about my wellbeing.”

  Shawn didn’t remember when she’d started calling him by his first name. He only knew that he approved. “Call it morbid curiosity.”

  She seemed to gather her thoughts as she took a deep breath. “They’ve offered me… a promotion.”

  The look of amazement on Shawn’s face was unmistakable. “Seriously? A promotion? To what, head troublemaker?”

  She understood his frustrations, and she didn’t blame him for them. It was, after all, her fault for getting him into this situation in the first place. The best she could do now was to remain calm and not let her feelings run her mouth. “My clearance has been reinstated.”

  “And that means what, exactly? And at what cost does it come?” Shawn guessed that the Director would never have offered her this deal if there wasn’t something in it for the government or the agency itself. Something else was going on here, and he knew he’d never be able to trust her until it was resolved.

  “The cost is my obedience,” she replied. “My objective, however, is unchanged.”

  Obedience. She said it in a way that made Shawn recognize she probably hated the term as much as he did. He simply nodded as he processed the information. “By ‘objective’, you mean the search for your father?”

  “I do.”

  “And you’ll risk putting yourself in this same situation all over again? I doubt the OSI is this lenient twice.”

  “They’re not. I’ll be operating within the guidelines of the agency on this matter from now on.”

  “In what capacity?”

  “As… as the lead investigator.” She stammered, although she had no idea why.

  “I see. So, as long as you acquiesce to his whims, you’ll have your clearance back, all the personnel you’ll ever need, and enough resources to make finding your father a hundred times easier than with just me?”

  Melissa pursed her lips and nodded. “It would seem so.”

  “But why? I don’t get it. Maybe you can explain—”

  “Stop it, Shawn!” She seemed on the verge of either breaking down emotionally or striking out against him. “I… I can’t talk about it with you!”

  “Then it looks like you’ve got all the cards in your hand. Since this is a game you clearly don’t want me to play, you’ll have to excuse me. I need to finish prepping my ship.” Shawn brushed passed Melissa and exited the passenger lounge. He heard the heels of her boots rushing to catch up to him as he strode through the berthing area corridor on his way to the cargo deck.

  Once in the
hold, she’d managed to quickly bypass him, and as he reached up to press the control that would lower the new cargo door, Melissa quickly sidestepped him and placed her hand over the control. Shawn, already in the process of activating the door, pressed his finger gently into the palm of her hand. It took him a moment to realize that he was touching her, and it took Melissa and even longer moment to realize she was being touched. She was standing close at his side, close enough to feel the heat radiating through his clothes. Her eyes fell on his finger, then followed up his arm, until she was staring intently into his eyes.

  “No, Captain. I don’t have them all,” She gently pushed back against his finger. “Not yet, anyway.”

  Her eyes were sparkling and wide. She was so close, so dangerously close, that he could see the infinitely fine hairs on the periphery of her cheeks. The gloss of her lips caught the overhead light in just such a way as to make them look undeniably kissable. She was stunning, of that there was no question, but she was also devious and unpredictable. Shawn wasn’t sure if this was the last person he should ever get involved with—or if she should have been the first.

  “Tell me why,” he said in a near whisper, their closeness requiring nothing more. “Give me one good reason why I don’t throw you back out there amongst the wolves. You can’t possibly need my help anymore, so what is it?”

  She swallowed hard. “This maybe one of those times that you tell me that I’m acting foolish or irrational—”

  “You mean crazy?”

  She smiled softly. “Yes, that too… but I don’t care. I… you should consider staying.”

  “Do you have any idea what that would mean for me?” he whispered with conviction.

  She shook her head solemnly. “I only know what it means if you don’t.”

  Forgetting his anger, he turned and placed his hands on her shoulders. Instinctively, she placed her hands around his wrists, neither pushing him away nor drawing him closer. “Don’t get me wrong,” he whispered, “I care deeply about your father, but if what Toyo said was true—and I’ve got good reason to believe it is—then things could get crazy around here real fast and this isn’t—”

  “This isn’t your fight?”

  The same bitter taste he’d experienced when he spoke to Krif earlier returned to his mouth. “Something like that.”

  She gently released his hands and stepped back, just out of arms reach. “I understand you’ve been offered a commission back to your old rank. That sounds like quite a noble thing, Captain.”

  Shawn closed the gap between them once more, pleasantly surprised when she didn’t retreat. If anything, she seemed to welcome it. “It’s not for me, not anymore,” he said as he gently shook his head.

  Suddenly Melissa was fighting back tears, wanting to scream and cry all at the same time. “So, you’ll go back home then… to Minos? Life goes on and all of that, right?” The question was rhetorical. She understood full well that once he left the Rhea, the chances of him making it back to Minos decreased with each passing light-year, and that this moment would likely be her only chance to do something about it.

  “All things considered, yes. I suppose it will.”

  Melissa nodded solemnly. If she’d had the ability to voice her thoughts, she would have told Shawn about her mistrust of the Director and of his promises. The simple fact remained that there was simply no telling whether Sylvia’s Delight was bugged, and whether their entire conversation was currently being recorded or not. For her safety, as well as for Shawn’s, she knew she couldn’t chance it.

  “And I’m sure you’ll be happy there,” she continued, “tending to your business and your clients, flying your ship to the edge of space and back and living in relative peace and tranquility with little to no rules to guide you.” She didn’t wait for his acknowledgement before she continued. “That is, until the Kafaran’s come back to power. And don’t try to deny it, Shawn.” She moved closer, and Shawn leaned his head down to stare in her eyes once more. Only inches of empty space separating their faces. “It’s going to happen; sooner or later… we both know that it will. Then Minos will be just another target for their destruction. You, your friends, everyone you know… you’ll be corralled and turned into slaves for their war machine… or worse.”

  “I’ll be fine.” He mustered his most convincing smile, although he had his own trepidations about the statement he’d just made.

  She swallowed hard again as a single tear rolled down her cheek. Before it reached her jaw line, Shawn reached up and gently brushed it away. This isn’t the way it was supposed to happen, she thought regretfully. She reached a trembling hand up to cover Shawn’s and shook her head slowly. “No, Shawn. No you won’t.” She slid her free hand behind his head and pulled him slowly down into a brief but gentle kiss. When their lips had parted, she wrapped her arms around his neck, and guided his ear closer to her mouth. “I can protect you if you stay, but if you go… and please make no mistake about this, Shawn: they will kill you.” Her words were barely above a whisper.

  “De Lorme?” Shawn whispered back.

  Her breath tickled his ear as she spoke as softly as she could, her whispers tinged with distress. “The agency. The Director.”

  All it once it dawned on Shawn: they were being watched. Somehow, someway, the OSI had tapped Sylvia’s Delight, and Melissa knew it. He pulled back slightly from her embrace and stroked her cheek once more. This time it was he that initiated the kiss, which took Melissa completely by surprise. She should have somehow put a stop to it, but somewhere in that kiss she forgot entirely where she was and what she was supposed to be doing there. As the kiss became more passionate, Melissa didn’t realize she’d begun stroking the back of his neck until he pulled his lips away and moved towards her ear. And it wasn’t until after he’d moved away that she realized she hadn’t wanted him too.

  “How can you protect me?”

  She collected her thoughts before she spoke. “If you agree to reactivate your commission, you’ll be placed directly under my command for the duration of this mission.”

  He held her tightly, lightly stroking the small of her back with his hands. “And once that’s done, once we retrieve your father?”

  His touch was like fire through her uniform and she was finding it difficult to concentrate. What’s wrong with me? Get a grip. “I’ve been told you’d be free to go.”

  “Do you believe him?” His warm breath raced across the surface of her ear and neck.

  Her grip around him intensified as she leaned closer to his ear once more. “I believe he’d stop at nothing to protect the security of this mission and the agency.”

  “And if I refuse?” Shawn’s hands moved from her back to her hips. He pushed away from her gently, then leaned his forehead down until it nearly touched her own, his eyes searching hers for more than just answers to his immediate questions.

  “I’m quite sure there is a bomb hidden on your ship.”

  A bomb? Here? Shawn couldn’t help but smile. “You make one hell of a compelling argument for me to stay.” Trent has been with the ship every second since we came onboard. Still, was it possible something could have been slipped in the ship without their knowing it? Maybe inside one of the replacement parts? Hell, it could be inside the new cargo ramp I’m standing right next to and I’d never even know it. ”Just one thing: you said that at first you needed my help.”

  She continued stroking the hairs on the back of his neck, refusing to look him in the eyes. “Yes?”

  “Does that mean… that now you want my help?”

  She pulled her head away and looked into his bright blue eyes, then drew him into another kiss—not for deception, not for the mission, not even for her father. This one was for her. She slid her lips free from his, and embraced him tightly, as if she might never see him again after this moment. “I… I can’t promise anything. All I can offer you is that you’ll need to stay to find out.”

  At that moment her fear overcame her, fear of rejectio
n—fear that… what she felt at that moment could be so easily pushed aside for selfish reasons by a man who, by all rights, shouldn’t care about her at all. She pulled back from him and slammed her palm into the emergency release on the door control before Shawn had a chance to give her a reply. The pistons that would have normally have slowed the hatch opening instead disengaged completely, permitting the ramp to slam to the Rhea’s hangar deck with a thundering clap. She held her hand to her face, wiping away the tears as she jogged down the ramp and into the jumble of crewmembers scurrying about the hangar deck. In a flash she’d disappeared into the crowd and out of Shawn’s sight.

  Shawn was left with uneasiness as he stood there in the open hatch, staring at the crowd, looking for a sign she would turn and come back. After a few minutes, Trent came bounding down the cargo hold towards Shawn.

  “Hey, did you just hit the emergency release?”

  “Must have been an accident.” Shawn didn’t turn from the crowd, his eyes still searching for Melissa as the taste of her slowly retreated from his lips and her pleasant perfumed passed from the physical to a memory.

  “You seem to be having a lot of those lately.”

  Shawn snapped out of the fruitless search and turned to face Trent with a half smirk. “Yeah, I suppose I do.” It was then that he noticed Trent was wearing a dark blue Sector Command ball cap, emblazoned with a likeness of the Rhea stitched across it.

  Trent nodded and looked at the Captain questionably. “And, this mistake of yours? It wouldn’t happen to be about yay tall and have red hair, would it?” Trent held his hand out parallel with the deck and up to Melissa’s approximate height.

  “It might,” Shawn smiled delicately. “Nice hat, by the way.”

  “You know, a guy like me would love to have some of your accidents,” Trent said with a sly smile. “And I got the hat from one of the techs doing the work on the cargo hatch. Pretty sharp, right?”

  Shawn turned back toward his ship, glanced around the innards of the cargo deck and nodded with approval that everything seemed to be secured for flight. Still, was there something onboard he missed? Could someone really have hidden an explosive device somewhere? He knew every inch of his ship, every crack and crevice, and so did Trent. The question was, should he take the time to search it out, and would he know what to do once he found it?