by Amy DuBoff
“How does it not bother you how they talk around everything? A little directness doesn’t hurt.”
“Maybe we can complete our first year as Taran citizens before deciding what’s best for everyone.” Raena patted him on the arm and then descended the steps from where they were seated in the tiered second row.
“Ryan, you grew up on Tararia,” Jason said, loping down the steps past her. “Don’t you agree that it’s backwards how they handle the division of those with and without abilities?”
Ryan held up his hands. “I have a limited vantage. I couldn’t say.”
Jason cast him a sidelong glance. “You just don’t want to disagree with Raena.”
“I’m not disagreeing with you,” Raena interjected. “I just think we need to practice some careful wording.” She cast an appreciative glance in the direction of Agent Galin.
“At least one of you listens to me,” Galin muttered under her breath while she deactivated the holoprojector.
“Just give Jason more work to do,” Raena suggested. “He starts getting argumentative when he’s not kept busy enough.”
Galin grinned. “That can be arranged.”
“All right, all right! I’ll keep my thoughts to myself, geez,” Jason groaned and headed out of the classroom.
“Thanks, Raena,” the young Agent said with heartfelt appreciation. “I shouldn’t really say this, but I’m not still sure how I’m supposed to be with you two, since you’re… you know.”
Raena smiled at her. “We’re Trainees just like all the other first years here in the TSS.”
“Yeah, there’s that, and then who your parents also are in here.”
“Jason likes to test boundaries. If you don’t set them, he’ll keep pushing,” Raena assured her. “We can take critical feedback. I don’t think our parents would want you showing us any special favor.”
“Okay, sounds good.” Agent Galin nodded. “Have a good trip.”
“Thanks, see you in a few days.”
Raena and Ryan said their goodbyes and exited into the hall. The next block in the afternoon was study time before their afternoon freefall training session, but this particular day was Raena’s monthly Lead Agent check-in—which, of course, meant a one-on-one with her mother.
“See you soon,” Raena bid to Ryan as they parted ways.
She took the elevator to Level 1 and entered the administrative wing. Her mother’s Lead Agent office was at the end of the long hall lined with other Agent offices, and she found that the outer glass wall was on the transparent setting.
Inside, her mother looked up from behind her desk. “Come in, Raena.”
“Hey.”
As Raena took a seat in one of the guest chairs, Saera used controls on her touch-surface desk to adjust the tint on the glass wall to an opaque gray for privacy.
“These formal check-ins still feel weird,” Raena commented.
“A necessary part of the Lead Agent-Trainee relationship, I’m afraid,” Saera smiled. “Once a month isn’t so bad, right?”
“I guess not.”
“So, how are you doing?” her mother asked, eyeing her through her tinted glasses.
Raena shrugged. “Good.”
“Classes going all right?”
“Yeah, I think so. I’m getting a handle on the differences from back home.”
Saera smiled. “I remember feeling comfortable by this time in my first year, too. It all started to click.” She paused. “And what about things with Ryan?”
The question caught Raena off-guard. “Yeah, it’s all good.”
“I’m asking that part as your mom, not Lead Agent.”
Raena looked down.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing with him,” Raena hastily replied. “He’s great! It’s just… tough to get any time as a couple.”
“Ah.” Her mother nodded with understanding. “Yeah, I’ve been there.”
“How did you and Dad manage?”
“Well, he was an Agent by the time I was finishing my first year. We always had his quarters.”
Raena’s eyes widened. “Sneaking into the Agent’s wing?”
Her mother smiled. “I got very good at it.”
“I guess we’re out of luck, then.”
“Don’t be silly. We’ll figure out a place where you can get alone-time together—maybe some quarters on one of the Militia Levels.”
They’d really set up a place where we can… Raena felt her face flush slightly. “That just seems so… I dunno.”
“Relationships are complicated enough without having to worry about where you can even have a private conversation when you need to,” Saera replied. “Keep in mind, I was almost a year younger than you when your father and I bonded.”
“How did you know that was the right thing to do?”
“There’s not an easy answer to that—we just felt it.” Her mother paused. “I don’t think most people would be prepared to commit at that age, but we’d both been through some fairly profound life experiences that made us grow up fast.”
“I’m pretty scared by the whole thing,” Raena admitted. “Not because I don’t think Ryan will be a great partner, but just… having to give up a part of myself.”
“No, it’s not like that at all. It’s more like your sense of self expands. You’re still all of you, but you gain this extension that can make you feel more fulfilled and stronger than you ever thought you could be.”
I hadn’t thought about it that way. Raena looked up at her mother. “That actually sounds really nice.”
“It’s a feeling that can’t be put into words. But it does go both ways—happiness is shared between you, but if one of you is hurting, you both do.”
Raena noticed a subtle grimace flit across her mother’s face, as if recalling a painful memory. “Have you ever regretted bonding with Dad?” she asked.
“No, but that doesn’t mean it’s always been easy. Especially after the war, he—” she cut herself off and forced a smile. “Don’t rush into anything, but don’t hold back only because you fear the unknown. You’ll know what to do when the right time comes.”
“Okay, thanks.” Raena smiled back.
“I know there have been a lot of major life changes in the past several months. I’m impressed by how you’ve taken everything in stride.”
“Eh, it’s not like I’ve had a choice.”
Saera nodded. “Well, if you have this kind of poise at seventeen, the other politicians on Tararia need to look out.”
“Shouldn’t they already be on high alert?” Raena asked. “I mean, we control both SiNavTech and the TSS now.”
Her mother grinned. “Oh yeah. It’s taken fifty years, but all the pieces are in place. No one can stop us now.”
* * *
After making a scene the previous afternoon in spatial awareness training, Ryan made a point to be on his best behavior. Even Jason seemed to be taking Raena’s advice, as he took a more agreeable attitude with the instruction than Ryan had seen in the past several months.
Despite Raena and Jason growing up on Earth and being unfamiliar with things like freefall maneuvering and Taran math, they’d quickly picked up everything that had been thrown at them. Oftentimes, Ryan was concerned he’d be left behind. What had been considered exceptional aptitudes among the servant ranks on Tararia were fairly average within the TSS, and he found that he had to push himself much more than he ever had before. He was keeping up, though, and Raena was both encouraging and supportive in the efforts.
The afternoon training session concluded on time and the Primus Elite Trainees returned to their quarters to unwind for the night. They were set to depart for the rift at 07:00—an hour earlier than their normal start time—so most wanted to get to bed ahead of their typical schedule.
Ryan decided to take a quick shower before dinner so he could come home to finish his Taran politics paper after the meal. When he emerged from the bathroom, he found Raena lounging in the comm
on area with some of her friends.
“Tell them,” she said to Ryan when she spotted him.
His heart skipped a beat. “Tell them what?”
“That my family isn’t a bunch of power-hungry dictators bent on taking over Taran civilization,” Raena clarified.
“Uh…” His brow furrowed. “Where is this coming from?” he asked her. “Has this come up before and I missed it?”
“Apparently Jason’s stunt in class today got out and people are talking about us wanting to telepathically control the rest of the population if they don’t agree with us.”
“That’s not what he meant at all.”
“I know that, but they don’t believe me,” she said, her mental tone strained.
Ryan looked around the faces of those in the common room. “You might consider my opinion biased, but I’ve spent time with the Sietinens, and their interests are very much rooted in increasing equity, not totalitarian control.”
Tiff evaluated Ryan from her place on the couch next to Raena. “His opinion is biased, all right.”
Great, is she going to pick this moment to reveal what she saw yesterday? Ryan’s supposition was immediately confirmed.
“Those two are a thing.” Tiff pointed at Raena and Ryan.
All eyes turned to Raena and then shifted to Ryan.
“Seriously?” Leon asked.
“It shouldn’t be that surprising, given all the time we spend together,” Raena said. “I don’t want them questioning my parents’ plan,” she added privately to him. “This will distract them.”
“Should we really give them a distraction?” he asked.
She smiled. “Go for it.”
Ryan sat down on the edge of the coffee table closest to where he was standing. “It’s fitting that we’d develop a relationship—with her dad being High Commander now and all.”
Adaline looked confused. “How do you mean?”
“Well, my father used to be a TSS High Commander,” Ryan said casually.
Ned’s mouth dropped open. “Come again?”
“Yeah, Jason Banks,” Ryan continued like he was doing nothing more than reading off a homework assignment. “I mean, that’s how he was known around here. Back on Tararia, he was from the Bankris Dynasty.”
Leon blinked at him with disbelief. “Your dad was High Commander and from a Dynasty?”
“That’s right.” Ryan nodded.
“And you didn’t think to mention any of that when that asshole was giving you shite about being a Ward when we first got here?” Ned questioned.
“It was beside the point in that instance,” Ryan replied. “I guess it just never came up again. Our positions outside the TSS don’t matter, right?”
“But that…” Leon breathed.
Ryan shrugged. “No one asked.”
Tiff’s mouth dropped open a little and she gave Raena a questioning look under raised eyebrows. Raena just smiled and gave her a coy shrug in response.
“Well shite,” Tiff breathed. “I guess that explains why your dad was okay with it.”
Jason emerged from his bedroom at the tail end of Tiff’s statement.
“Dad’s okay with what?” he asked Raena.
“With Ryan and me, since Ryan’s dad is your namesake and all that,” she replied.
“Oh, yeah. Small universe,” Jason said and continued on his way to the back cabinets to grab a snack bar.
“You’re not exactly helping your case for this not being a friendly takeover,” Ned muttered.
“On the contrary,” Raena said, “it’s a bunch of old friends whose lives have intermingled. I know it looks like a crazy political scheme, but my dad has the highest CR on record—of course he’d take over as High Commander. And my grandfather was the sole Sietinen heir. Yes, they so happen to hold two key positions of power, but so what? My mom was raised on Earth, Ryan was raised as a Ward—I’d say, all in all, that makes for a pretty diverse group as far as potential power-holders go.”
“Oh, so you and Ryan are really a thing?” Tiff said, her brown eyes getting even wider.
I’d say that distraction is in full swing now. Ryan feigned assurance. “That’s between us.”
Pensive looks of speculation washed over the faces of the other Trainees.
“I don’t know about you,” Raena stated as she rose from the couch, “but I’m going to dinner. All this attention is making me hungry.”
“Fok… I have so many questions!” Tiff followed her.
Ryan stood and Leon came up to him with Ned.
“Dude, seriously, how’d you even…?” Leon asked.
“It’s a long story,” Ryan replied, thinking back to the convoluted truth he could never share with them. “The short version is that Wil saw me around the estate and realized I had telekinetic abilities. When they ran a search of my records, they found a genetic match with my real dad—Banks—who was killed in the war before I was even born. Being the lost son of a family friend, they brought me under their care. When Raena and I met, we just… clicked.”
Ned shook his head. “Crazy.”
Ryan smiled. “You’re telling me. I still can’t believe it.”
Raena glanced back at him from by the door. “Coming?”
“On our way,” he said. “You know I’ll always follow you.”
She took his arm. “Not following. We’re in this together.”
They hung back while the others went ahead.
“Thank you for revealing everything like that,” Raena told him when the other Trainees were beyond earshot. “I know you didn’t want to.”
“It was going to get out one way or another,” Ryan replied. He dropped his voice to a near-whisper, “You were right—we couldn’t have people asking about how the Sietinen Dynasty is positioning.”
“I know it’s for the greater good, but it does look all creepy overlord-y, doesn’t it?”
He tilted his head the slightest measure. “Yeah, kinda…”
Raena frowned. “I really hope my grandparents know what they’re doing. This has major potential to backfire.”
“And we’d be the first to go down—especially me.”
“If it wasn’t simultaneous, I’d only be milliseconds behind you,” she said, keeping her voice low. “But, if Sietinen were to fall, too, that’s a whole other situation.”
“It won’t come to that,” Ryan assured her. “We’ll pull this off, whatever ‘it’ is, exactly.”
“I believe that, too.”
CHAPTER 3
As the Primus Elite trainees prepared to board the TSS Vanquish, Jason was surprised to see his sister and Ryan suddenly being so open with their relationship.
He’d been watching them with interest for the last eight months. At first, he had been wary of Ryan’s intentions—plenty of guys had taken an interest in Raena over the past couple of years on Earth, and almost none for the right reasons. He’d initially expected Ryan to be like them, taking advantage of the situation when he caught Raena’s eye. But, as Jason had observed them during their time at TSS Headquarters, he realized that it was nothing like he’d suspected. It was the kind of relationship like his parents shared, and something that Jason had never come remotely close to having himself.
Since he didn’t have direct understanding of what was between them, he observed and tried to dissect it from a scientific perspective.
From Raena’s brief account of her time behind the scenes with the Priesthood, Jason knew there was a genetic component to their attraction. His parents had been reticent to say anything, but Jason had taken it upon himself to do some digging. Buried deep in the Mainframe, he’d found reference to a nanoagent carried in the bloodlines of the High Dynasties and select other lines. What he saw in the couples around his family might very well be genuine attraction, but it might also be nanotech that had messed with their neural chemistry. It made him wary, but it also fascinated him to see others so taken with each other.
Beyond Jason’s ties to Raena as
his twin, he had few other friendships he’d consider significant. Remaining somewhat of a loner had the advantage of agility. When they were forced to suddenly leave Earth, for instance, there were few he was sorry to leave behind—as much as he’d protested, it was mostly for show.
In truth, he was far more drawn to what the TSS had to offer. It combined the appeal of a military lifestyle with the opportunity to intellectually challenge himself. He had yet to come close to doing so, but at least the potential was there.
Even so, all the attention was on Raena and Ryan—the Sietinen heiress and lost Dainetris heir, such a perfect pairing that it could be nothing short of engineered.
The fact that no one was concerned about such obvious orchestration concerned him. If his parents knew about some master plan, they hadn’t indicated anything beyond the pertinent points for the revolution they were planning.
So, Jason continued to watch and wait, pushing the boundaries here and there to see what topics solicited a reaction. One such topic was certainly the rift, and he was anxious to visit it for himself. He might finally get some answers about the deal his father had struck with the mysterious Aesir when they’d come on the day of his and Raena’s Awakening, and what their true future might hold. There was more on the line than just the Priesthood’s removal from power, that much was clear. How much more and Jason’s potential part in it remained to be seen.
Jason’s introspection was interrupted by Leon plopping down onto the couch next to Jason in the lounge area of the Vanquish set aside for transporting the group.
“Hey,” Leon greeted. “I can’t believe we’re about to go to the mythical rift.”
“It’s hardly a myth,” Jason replied. “It’s where they fought most of the Bakzen War for five hundred years.”
“The war itself seems almost mythical. No one who was actually there will talk about it.”
Jason shrugged. “I don’t blame them. A lot of people died. I wouldn’t want to remember that, either.” It was enough to mess up Dad. I can’t even imagine what leading that would be like.
“Your dad is coming with us, right?” Leon asked.
“Yes, being the first educational tour about the rift, he wanted to set the tone, or something.”
