Gabriel's Ghost

by Linnea Sinclair

  Sully shoved himself off the desktop. “Mind-probe. I’m a Ragkiril.”

  “Ridiculous. You’re not a Stolorth.”

  “He can read Philip, scan him,” I told Thad when my brother’s startled gaze focused on me.

  Thad rose slowly. “And if he is working with Burke?”

  “Then I can make him forget he ever saw us.”

  A clear expression of distaste crossed Thad’s features. But he made no comment. He stopped at the doorway to the outer office. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

  Sully remained standing, quietly, after the doors closed behind my brother. I felt him link with Ren, saw the flash of thought-pictures. Not Berri or Lazlo, but there were people in the corridors, looking. Ren sensed their searching, but he had no visual link with Verno and couldn’t provide detailed descriptions, other than male humans, discreetly armed.

  I leaned my elbows on the table, resting my face in my hands. I was exhausted, emotionally and physically. I wasn’t sure of how I felt about Philip’s involvement but knew what Thad had said was true. Philip was ethical. To the point, perhaps, of being stodgy. His family had been vehement in their objections to the jukors bred during the war. And they’d never support an insurrection in the Empire, not one funded by Burke and carried out through the use of jukors.

  The issue, of course, would be how he’d react to Sully. Pirate. Ghost. Ragkiril.

  The chair next to me squeaked. Sully folded his hands on the tabletop.

  I propped my chin on my fist. “He could refuse to help us on a matter of principle. Nothing to do with Burke.”

  “And miss the chance to play hero?”

  I ignored his sarcasm and voiced a disturbing thought that had been hovering. One that touched on things Gregor had said back on the Karn. “Could you force him to help us?”

  Sully took a deep breath. “If I say no, I’d be lying. If I tell you the truth, then I’ve added to your fears.”

  “If you can do things like that, why didn’t you know Thad was coming into the office until he was at this door?”

  “Strictly a priority error. I was focused on you. And keeping a light link with Ren. It’s like picking a conversation out of a crowded room but not being able to hear all of them.”

  I leaned back, nodded. “But you could force Philip to help us?”

  “I could make him believe that’s what he wanted to do. But if we ran into three or four of his officers who dissented, there’d be problems.”

  “I heard Gregor tell Aubry he saw a Ragkiril strip the minds of four prisoners during the war.”

  “A Ragkiril can’t. A Kyi-Ragkiril could.”

  “Explain.”

  Sully hesitated only a moment—out of habit, perhaps. Or perhaps listening to Ren tell him it was time to start answering my questions. “A Kyi-Ragkiril is one who draws power from an energy field called the Kyi. Those energies can be used, manipulated, shifted. The Kyi’s not that different from jumpspace. A neverwhen of sorts. You called it ‘gray fuzzy soft’ when you saw it. Others, centuries ago, labeled it an unholy light. Abbot Eng demonized it, falsely. The Kyi is light. Energy. It’s no more holy, or unholy, than the person using it.”

  “You’re a Kyi-Ragkiril.”

  “Yes.” No hesitation this time.

  “But you said you can’t—”

  “I didn’t say I couldn’t. I said if I had to control a number of people, there’d be problems. The larger the requirement of energy, the more visible it becomes. Telekinesis, aggregate thought control, serious physical healings—”

  “When Ren was hurt, on the bridge, I didn’t see any light.”

  There was a long, hard silence. His shoulders were stiff under his black jacket. “It was there.”

  “I was right next to you.” Touching you, holding you. “I would’ve seen—”

  “I changed what you saw. I had to. It was wrong. But there was too much at risk.”

  Ren had been dying. The Karn in shambles. The Meritorious almost totally destroyed. And Sully had been in my mind, just like in Trel’s bar. But this time, not shielding the emotions I was sending. But altering what I saw, and I hadn’t even known.

  Part of me understood he had valid reasons for what he’d done. But another part of me, a part that was far too crowded with unwanted mental duro-hards, recoiled. Shocked. Angered. “You had no right!”

  “None at all. I also had no choice.”

  “Next time, try honesty. It—”

  Sully held his hand up, stopping my words. “Thad’s back. With Guthrie.”

  34

  Philip’s resonant voice filled the outer office. “How about telling me what’s so damned important you couldn’t—”

  He stopped in the open doorway. He was in his gray working-dress uniform. Dignified. Handsome. I watched emotions flicker through Philip’s eyes as I worked on reorienting my own.

  “Chaz!” He stepped toward me, hand out, then hesitated. “This is what the security stops are for. I should’ve known.”

  He raised his chin, his gaze on Sully, who wasn’t safely in the recesses of my ship’s bridge. As with Thad, recognition took a few moments. “I gather Hell was full.”

  “Still room for you, Guthrie.”

  Damn it, don’t start. We need his help. I was angry but forced myself to bank my emotion. It was useless right now. I took a deep breath, offered my ex-husband a bland smile. “Why don’t you sit on the couch. We’ll tell you what’s going on.”

  Philip moved easily, as if my showing up unexpectedly again, in the company of a dead smuggler, was part of his everyday schedule. He leaned back against the cushions, propped one leg on his knee. Thad sat at his desk.

  “That was the Meritorious,” Philip said to me as I swiveled my chair around.

  “I had reasons not to tell you.”

  I could see his mind opening and inspecting those mental Fleet-issue databoxes. He nodded to Sully. “I gather you helped my wife escape?”

  “She’s not your wife.”

  I shot a warning look at Sully, then turned to Philip. “We need a safe way off Marker. Will you help?”

  Philip studied me for a moment before his gaze flashed to Sully. “I only want what’s best for you, Chaz.”

  “That could mean a lot of things,” Sully said, rising. His voice was soft, but there was an underlying forcefulness.

  Philip met Sully’s obsidian gaze squarely. “What’s your interest here?”

  “At the moment, you. Your intentions. Your allegiances.”

  “You question me?”

  “We have to question.” I put my captain’s command voice behind my words. “We don’t know if we can trust you.”

  “Why? What did you do?”

  I chose my words carefully. “We destroyed a jukor lab. Here. Level 28-Blue.”

  “Impossible.”

  “That we destroyed the lab?” Sully asked.

  Philip responded with a dismissive glance. He turned back to me. “Breeding jukors was banned years ago. The labs were destroyed. All embryos, genetics, everything.”

  “A jukor attacked us on Moabar,” I told him quietly. “The lab we destroyed a few hours ago had two pair, Philip. Two breeding pair. And a Taka female, serving as surrogate.”

  He stared at me, hard. “Who’s doing this?”

  “My cousin, Hayden Burke.” Sully’s voice was cold as he stepped toward Philip. “And, according to Commander Bergren, a number of very powerful people close to Prew. Are you one of them, Guthrie?”

  Philip shot to his feet, anger twisting his face, his clenched fist moving. Sully caught his arm, held it firmly for a moment. Philip jerked his wrist out of Sully’s grip. Anger vibrated across his face, radiated from his body. But he didn’t move.

  Sully’s eyes were already infinite, dark. And locked on Philip’s. He held his hand open at chest level, his fingers splayed slightly, but not touching Philip. A barely perceptible silvery energy rippled over his shoulders, down his arms. It flowed toward P
hilip, as if going through him and around him at the same time.

  I held my breath.

  Thad swore softly.

  Then it was over. Philip blinked as if he had suddenly, and unexpectedly, awakened.

  Sully turned to me as if nothing unusual had happened. “Son of a bitch hates Hayden as much as I do. We can trust him.”

  Philip’s lips thinned, his expression hardening. “Mind-fucker!” His fist caught Sully on the side of the jaw, throwing him back against Thad’s desk. I was already on my feet.

  Sully lunged, pinning Philip onto the couch. I grabbed Sully’s shoulders. “Stop it!”

  Philip swung again. Sully jerked away before the blow could connect.

  I tried to push Sully backward and grabbed Philip’s arm with my other hand, pushing and tugging at the same time. My feet tangled with Philip’s legs. I lost my balance and fell onto the low sofa table just as Sully surged forward.

  Thad shoved by me, grabbing for Sully’s arm. I blocked him, catching him in the stomach with my elbow. “I said, stop it! All of you.”

  I plowed in between Sully and Philip again, braced one arm against the back of the couch. Thad sank down on the low table, clutching his midsection, breathing hard.

  Philip glared up at me. Behind me, Sully’s breath rasped as he stood.

  “We had to know,” I told Philip. Another no-choice situation. Like on the bridge of the Karn. I pushed myself upright and faced Sully. His arms were clenched at his sides. His chest heaved. A reddish bruise had blossomed on his jaw. “Power down. Both of you,” I said.

  Philip sat up, raked his hands through his hair.

  Thad was back on his feet. “She needs your help, Philip. I’m not any happier about dealing with … him than you are.” He slanted a glance at Sully. “But Burke threatened to kill her before. He will now. Unless they stop him first.”

  Philip took a deep breath as if to center himself. “Tell the whole story, from the beginning.”

  I did. I told him how jukors were breeding and Takas were dying. And other Takas were taking revenge, raping and killing human females. How Berri Solaria was working with Lazlo and had uncovered Sully’s plans through her friendship with the Takan monk Brother Verno. Who had risked his life to save us, and a Stolorth, Brother Ren Ackravaro.

  Sully spoke tersely, gave Philip facts, figures, what names he knew. He showed him the datatabs, their information now on the way to Guardian Drogue.

  “I’ll need a copy of that sent to the Loviti,” Philip said.

  Sully hesitated. “I’m not sure I trust official Imperial channels right now.”

  “For good reason.” Philip’s expression looked suddenly pinched. I had a feeling what he’d heard didn’t surprise him as much as I thought it would. “And I’ll make sure those official Imperial channels don’t see it. But there are people, people I know, who need to.”

  He did know something. “Philip?”

  He slanted a glance at me. “Later. I’ll explain later. Thad?”

  My brother sat behind his desk, stared at his hands, and told how Burke had threatened my life when he’d confronted him with the jukor data. He admitted that my ship’s logs had been falsified, my trial manipulated. My sentence on Moabar was a warning to Thad to cooperate.

  Philip exploded in anger. “Damn it, Thaddeus! I needed that information. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “Burke owns people—”

  “A Guthrie? Me?”

  “My first priority was keeping her alive. I didn’t have time to find out who I could trust.”

  “So you hired him?” Philip pointed dismissively at Sully, leaning against the edge of Thad’s desk.

  “Nobody hired anybody,” Sully said tiredly.

  Thad leaned back in his chair. “I thought he was dead. Like you did.”

  Philip regarded Sully as if he were some sort of specimen. “Ragkiril. And a human one. A genetic rarity. But immortality isn’t one of their attributes. Even if he is a Kyi.”

  Sully straightened slightly.

  “Didn’t think I’d know that, did you?” Philip appeared clearly satisfied with the impact of his words. “I know what you are, what your kind can do. My family researched Ragkirils during the war. Ragkirils and jukors. It sounds as if your cousin wants to make sure you stay dead this time.”

  “Few people know what I am. Hayden’s not one of them. And yes,” Sully continued as Philip started to speak again, “Chasidah knows.”

  “Only a Kyi-Ragkiril can read without touching a subject,” Philip told me, as if to make sure I knew what Sully was. “Watch for a silvered haze. In bright light you can’t always see it. It’s an energy field he uses. And watch his eyes, the way they seem to go totally black. He’s monitoring my thoughts, probably yours and your brother’s as well. So don’t think for a minute he doesn’t know we’re all afraid of him. We have good reason to be. He can do a lot more than just see what we’re thinking.”

  “She knows,” Sully repeated tightly.

  I stepped forward. “We need off Marker. Will you help?”

  “If it were just him, I’d tell him to find his own damned way off. But there are other issues here, issues you don’t know about. So, yes, Chaz, I’ll help.” He motioned to Thad. “I’ll need to use your deskscreen.”

  My brother vacated his chair and exchanged a brief, troubled glance with Philip.

  “Ever seen the paintings in an Englarian temple?” Philip asked Thad as Sully shoved himself away from the desk.

  I didn’t bother to watch for my brother’s affirmative nod. I felt Sully’s annoyance, felt him keep his reactions in check. Philip’s knowledge, and confidence, clearly bothered him. He took a seat at the conference table and swiveled away from Thad and Philip.

  I was glad for once I couldn’t read rainbows. A distinct edginess hung in the air. Considering what we faced, it was counterproductive. I decided to lead by example—a tried-and-true Fleet method.

  I sat next to Sully. “What’s Ren’s status?”

  “There’s a worker bar on Level 14. Mostly Takas. They’ve been able to stay there for a while.”

  “Any chance of getting back to the Karn?” Sully and Philip on the same ship for any length of time wasn’t going to be a workable situation. And it would take the Loviti a while to reach Dock Five, or Dafir.

  He angled toward me, his hand opening as if reaching for me, then he closed his fingers into a fist. He stared at them. “Guthrie still thinks of you as his wife.” His voice was quiet.

  I glanced at Philip. His concentration was on the deskscreen and the conversation he was having with his ship.

  “We don’t have time for personal issues—not his, not yours, not mine.”

  His hand opened again. “You’re not his wife, Chasidah.”

  “I know that,” I said.

  His eyes snapped briefly to infinite darkness. Mine. Then the harsh tone in my mind softened. Chasidah-angel. Philip says to fear me. Do you have any idea how afraid I am of him?

  “My private shuttle will be at Access Bay 7-Blue in twenty minutes.” Philip tabbed off the deskscreen and leaned back in Thad’s chair. “We’re going to run into the security stops. Do you and your friends uplevel have ID?”

  Sully swiveled slowly around, leaving emptiness, longing, and warmth in my mind. His sensations hovered around my confusion.

  “Ren and Verno have Englarian clearances on file. Get me any two cards,” he said to Thad, standing behind Philip. “I’ll get Chasidah and myself through from there.”

  Philip scowled openly, but Thad agreed. “I’ll need my desk back.”

  Philip grabbed the back of the chair next to mine, sat. He leaned his elbows on his knees, clasped his hands together. He deliberately ignored Sully as Sully pushed himself out of his seat, and chose instead to study me for a long moment. “I want you to consider something. I have no idea what your plans are after we get out of Marker, but with this information on Burke I can go back to Tage’s office. I told you when I
intercepted you out in Calth that I hadn’t abandoned you. I’ve been talking to Tage, a few others, to get you transferred. Now I know I can clear your name. A captaincy could be yours again. It will be, because I’m on the Admirals’ Council now. The Chaz Bergren I’ve known most of my life would never turn that down. Not even to work as a pilot for a smuggler, a Kyi-Ragkiril, a rare human one at that, who might yet end up being one of the wealthiest men in the Empire.”

  “I’ve got two cards.” Thad’s voice cut between us.

  Philip shoved himself to his feet. “Think about it.”

  Thad drew me into a very un-Thad-like hug as we got ready to leave his office. He would stay behind, run interference through his access into the security system, and work on the copies of the data Sully had left him. He’d be in touch, through a private comm tran I could access.

  I feared for his safety, knowing what we did of Hayden Burke.

  My big brother was more concerned for mine. “Philip’s appointment on the council should halt most questions.” Unless Burke had people in places higher than a Guthrie could go. There weren’t many. He squeezed my hands. “Be sure … of what you want to do,” he said softly.

  He glanced at Sully, a few feet away in the outer office.

  “Trust Philip,” he added.

  I bussed his cheek. “Watch after Willym for me.”

  Sully checked his Carver, adjusting his jacket around the weapon. I did the same with my Stinger. He had both ID cards in his pocket. “Ren and Verno will meet us at the bay at 7-Blue.” He touched my arm. I need a constant link with you.

  Agreed. I pushed away my unease at Philip’s warning about Kyi-Ragkirils. If there were problems, Sully, scanning, reading, would know before anyone else. I wanted that knowledge.

  Two stripers in the corridor watched us approach—Philip and Sully, with me in between. They saluted. “Everything all right, Captain?”

  “Optimal.”

  But we were still on Fleet property. The security checkpoints were in Marker’s public areas. The stripers there might be less intimidated by the Guthrie reputation.

  The security ’droid at the checkpoint we’d passed through earlier now had a human companion.

  “Lieutenant Halpert. Do you need to see my ID again?”