Daughter Of Ethos: Divine Justice Book 4

by L M Lacee

  Hawk looked at her, at the passion that filled her voice and face as she spoke and knew to deny her this would be to cripple her. He looked to a smiling, understanding Nikolas, who gave him a small nod.

  ‘You are assigned to the Warship Maikonia III, as of today. You have three hours to say your goodbyes, pack your gear and report to Captain Nikolas.’

  Startled she took a step back and asked hesitantly, her hands clasped tightly together. ‘I am to learn to be a Warship pilot?’

  Hawk asked. ‘Did you ever doubt it?’

  ‘Yes... yes, I did, so many times, I did.’

  ‘Well no more, go get started. Captain Nikolas will be your guide and trainer until you are assessed.’

  She turned, a huge smile on her face as she spotted Nikolas. ‘Captain.’ She squeaked and threw herself into Peneria’s arms. ‘I am to fly Peneria.’

  Peneria hugged her, happy for her little sister. ‘I am pleased for you Ipeara. Now go, I will be with you soon.’

  Ipeara released her sister and almost danced from the room with Nikolas next to her. Darby slipped into the office as Peneria addressed Hawk. ‘She is happy, thank you Commander.’

  ‘You thought I would not allow her to train as a pilot?’

  ‘Yes I did. For me I know what I must do to gain a footing here, to become accepted, before I can do what I am good at. For her it would have broken something inside her if she had been denied.’

  ‘You are wrong.’ Marlo advised her. ‘She is stronger than that. You have made her stronger.’

  ‘We will see, this is the first time she will be away from me, she has not realized that yet.’

  Darby told her. ‘She knows, she is too scared to think about it but she knows. This is what must happen to find out if she can soar without you.’

  Curious, Peneria asked. ‘You would know what that kind of fear is like?’

  ‘Yes.’ Darby did not elaborate and Peneria stared at the small female that welded so much power and yet had an abundance of hidden compassion. She and Ipeara had witnessed this when they had traveled to Prime with her.

  Before she could censor herself, she blurted out. ‘I find that hard to believe, you are so small. Who would give you fear like that?’

  Darby shrugged and said. ‘Your mind is your own worst enemy at times.’ She looked at Hawk and asked. ‘What are we up too?’

  Peneria placed the puzzle of the Commander to the back of her mind to search out later and investigate.

  Hawk told Peneria. ‘We have reviewed your records, there is very little we can teach you. Your training is excellent, we would like to train you in Terran style hand to hand combat. If you agree, that will begin immediately. What we and by we, I mean myself, Commander’s Marlo and Melody have decided, is to give you the rank of Captain.’

  Peneria was startled at the rank, she had no idea she would start so high, she had imagined she would be a cadet at first, to learn the Warriors way.

  Hawk said. ‘We want you to take over or to be precise, to start an office of investigations.’

  ‘Puzzles.’ Peneria exclaimed. ‘I would be solving puzzles?’

  ‘Yes.’ Darby smiled. ‘You are perfect for the position, it is as though your skill set was made for this.’

  ‘What do I investigate?’

  ‘Many things.’ Hawk and Darby stated together.

  ‘Who am I answerable to?’

  Marlo smiled. ‘I knew she was smart. You are answerable to Madam Peyton. Which means Commander Netta. First Commander Hawk, myself and directly under Specialist Darby who is considered the same rank as Commander but as you already know she is not military.’

  ‘I understand.’

  Darby told her. ‘I oversee our tech units so what you will need I will have or can get. Some of the Solverea family are eager to transfer into investigative work. So I set a meeting for you to meet Lord Harmara the head of the family, and the spy Master and Mistress Lord Klune and Lady Rata. Also, several of the Senes and Specialists are thinking they would enjoy this kind of work. The meeting for them is set for an hour after second-meal. Administration staff will be later in the day.’

  Peneria nodded. ‘Alright.’ She looked at Hawk and asked. ‘Commander, is this what you would have picked for me?’

  Hawk nodded. ‘I did, especially after reading your file, there was no other choice. Remember you are not alone, we will help. You are part of a bigger whole now. I am pleased to have you in my Command.’

  Peneria’s normal reserve cracked, and she grinned. ‘I am thankful to be in your command.’

  Darby said. ‘So your title is Captain of the investigative unit. Now let’s go see your office.’

  ‘I have an office?’

  Darby let go one of her rare laughs. ‘Yes, of course.’ As they opened the door, they heard Draykin’s wails of. ‘Mamamama!’

  ‘Oh my.’ Darby ran as she called to him. ‘I am here Draykin... I am here.’

  Marlo pushed Peneria through the door. ‘You will be fine.’ He pointed to a door three doors down from where they stood. ‘That is your office. I am here if you need anything.’ He closed the door before she had time to respond.

  ‘I can do this.’ Peneria smiled as she went in search of Darby and her office.

  At 08:00 hours precisely Fox arrived in front of Penny’s desk, ‘Greetings, I am here to see Madam Peyton. I am Fox.’

  Penny eyed him. ‘Of course you are. Well, Fox go on in, she is waiting.’

  When he entered, it was to see he would not be alone with Madam Peyton. Commander Hawk and Commander Marlo were seated with her, as were two Prowlers and three Warriors.

  ‘Greetings Fox, come in and I will introduce you. Do you wish anything to drink?’

  ‘No Madam, I am fine.’

  ‘Well as you can see, we have the two Prowlers Rage assigned to you, they are Yewta and Retder. You should know these are very crafty and enormously clever and resourceful Prowlers.’

  They both grinned at her praise and nodded to Fox when he greeted them. ‘We also have three Warriors led by Captain Varn Carto, his second, Captain Isha Etaran and Captain Warr Jurtor, they are all Falears.’

  ‘Greetings Warriors.’

  Varn inclined his head and said. ‘Greetings Fox, I wish to thank you for your help in creating the serum that has saved myself and my brothers.’

  Serious for once Fox also inclined his head. ‘Believe me when I say it was my pleasure to know I helped.’

  Peyton said. ‘Finally we have Rita Solverea.’

  Fox closed his eyes, it could not be. He had not seen or heard from her in yentas. He shook his head and turned around to be confronted by a slim, beautiful female. Aged somewhere around sixty-yentas old, with golden tresses styled in a knot at the nape of her elegant neck. Her face was thinner than he remembered, but just as refined, her eyes still held the sharp curiosity in their amber depths he remembered from her visits. She was so much like his aunt Rata. ‘Aunt Rita?’

  ‘Kaven, it is very good to see you.’

  He hugged her gently. ‘You have been missed Aunt.’

  ‘Thank you. I have missed you Kaven, but we can make up for it on this assignment.’

  ‘You are coming?’

  ‘Oh yes, it was at my request that Madam Peyton looked into this mission.’

  ‘I see, so you have set this in motion?’

  ‘I have and asked for you.’

  ‘Thank you.’ They broke apart and Fox showed her to a chair. His Aunt Rita was one of the most famous of the Solverea family. Sister to his Aunt Rata, she was mostly retired now, for the last twenty yentas she had kept a low profile on a world that had no idea who she was. She like Fox could blend into any society.

  Peyton said. ‘This mission is to gather intelligence. We have a whisper about a group of Ambassadors or at least they were Ambassadors, now they are basically held hostage at the Capital.’

  ‘How?’ Captain Varn asked. He was a striking looking male with white hair and blue ringed
eyes, he and the other two Warriors was handsome enough to have any female’s heart flutter with attraction.

  Rita took over the telling. ‘They are twenty-five from a planet of twenty million. The people of their world specialize in diplomacy and hire themselves out as negotiators and can be retained as Ambassadors. Usually, worlds employ them because they are not at a level to have one of their own citizens negotiate for them. These twenty-five we are concerned with, were invaluable and had the Capital in the palm of their hands. Until Thanikis, the Jenersar Ambassador made sure everyone knew they were cyborg and they were instrumental in a rebellion on their home world. We are unsure if this is true or not. It will make no difference to our mission, other than perhaps giving us an edge in our own negotiations. Now these twenty-five people barely eek a living from the scraps of the Capital

  ‘Why do they not return to their home world?’ Fox asked his aunt.

  ‘It could be they are indeed rebels and were banished, or it could be they dare not. Imagine what would happen if they were tracked and their world invaded. We would have cyborgs rampaging across the Universe or we would have planets turning their citizens into cyborgs and the wars would commence. Either way we would be caught in the middle, or so their leader has implied. Of course, this is a lie.’ She shrugged elegantly. ‘We will find out, eventually.’

  Peyton said. ‘So what you are saying and what I am understanding is they are abandoned Cyborgs.’

  Hawk replied. ‘They are not cyborgs as you wish them to be, half machine-half humanoid. The use of the word cyborg is in the form of an understanding that they are more than just flesh and blood. In the case of the peoples of Menturian, they are a nation unique to themselves, they are as far as we can ascertain a natural cyborg.’

  ‘Excuse me!’ Peyton exclaimed. ‘They are born with parts of machines in them?’

  Darby slipped into the room just in time to explain, much to everyone’s relief. ‘Sort of, it is more that their biology has been mixed with a type of nano. It seems from what little I can discern, the Menturians, many hundreds of years ago if not thousands found a way to incorporate nano-technology into their fetuses. Now after generations it appears babies are born with nanos passed from their parents. What the nanos give the Menturians, other than I imagine, long life I cannot say or find out.’

  Peyton looked disappointed. ‘So, they are not really cyborgs?’

  Darby shook her head. ‘Sorry Peyton, they are very sophisticated people with super alien everything.’

  Yewta asked. Why are their numbers so small?

  Darby answered. ‘We assume they are, we do not know for sure. Remember what we know, we have gleaned from word of mouth and what I could find in the data stream.’

  Retder nodded. Is this something we need to know?

  Peyton nodded. ‘It is.’

  Rita said. ‘As you can see they cannot give the technology to other worlds as they are the technology. They are held hostage at the Capital unable to go home. We are to believe they are also unable to make enough credits to buy passage somewhere else, or as I said earlier, that is the story they are spreading.’

  ‘Because they are super beings.’ Peyton said thoughtfully.

  Rita smiled and rocked her hand from side to side. ‘I think Madam, your idea and mine of super beings is different.’

  Peyton sighed. ‘Probably, okay so the mission is to secure the twenty- five and keep them safe and negotiate for them to work for us. Also to find out what is happening at the Capital as well as any and all information pertaining to Sleepers and Prowlers? I would like any updates on the Jenersar Rulers and Ambassador Thanikis. All information is to be uploaded to the code Darby will give you before you go. Now your chain of command is Captain Varn, Lady Rita, with Yewta as back up. Remember every one of you have been picked because you are all trained in one way or another for this mission. Captain Varn and Lady Rita have the parameters. This is a three lunera mission, depending on what you find out, shorter if you get into trouble, any questions?’

  There were none. ‘Good, you have until the end of the weken to come up with a plan of action. Please use the room at the end of the Hex marked conference 01. Rita, you are staying with Rata?’

  ‘I am, did you have somewhere else for me to go?’

  ‘No, I just wanted to make sure you were alright.’

  ‘I am as you say alright, if Fox would see me to the conference room, we should get started.’

  With that Rita inclined her head and left with Fox, who grinned at Peyton before leaving. A little surprised but mostly amused, Peyton said. ‘Well, okay then, see you all later.’ The others all bowed at the dismissal and followed Rita and Fox from the office. Leaving Hawk, Marlo, and Darby with Peyton.

  ‘That went well.’ Marlo commented.

  Darby agreed. ‘It did, they are a talented infiltration group. We may use them again, if this works well.’

  Hawk said noncommittally. ‘We will wait and see.’

  ‘Are all the precautions in place?’ Marlo asked Darby.

  ‘Yes, they will have back up, just not directly. We have the trading house with our people there and Harm apparently has operatives in place.’

  Hawk stood. ‘He declined to attend?’

  Peyton answered. ‘He said we had to get used to doing stuff like this on our own, as did Lord Klune.’

  Hawk nodded. ‘Okay, we will wait to see if their plan is viable. Madam, we will take our leave.’

  He and Marlo left, and Peyton asked Darby. ‘What do you wager Harm and Klune get with our away team and make sure it is done right, anyway?’

  ‘So not taking that wager.’

  Peyton stood and stretched. ‘How did Peneria take it?’

  ‘Like a duck to water.’

  ‘What the hayda does that mean, are you making things up now?’

  Darby sighed. ‘No, why would I, we leave that up to you?’

  ‘So funny.’

  Darby smiled as she said. ‘What I meant is, she is off and running, it is like the job was made for her.’ They grinned at each other, happy they had guessed right.

  Peyton asked. ‘Does she suspect it was my idea?’

  ‘Darby shook her head. ‘No, we made sure not to mention you to either sister.’

  ‘Good, their Uncle Putaran said they have never lived or worked more than a day away from each other. He said it would be telling how they cope without each other to rely on. Their father said they needed to make friends that were not related.’

  ‘Well, with Ipeara training on a Warship, we should find out sooner rather than later. And Peneria will be a force to be reckoned with when she has her people and has found her feet. Right now she is organizing her office and when I left her she was quizzing Penny on office personnel.’

  ‘Okay, well I have one more meeting. Will you be there?’

  ‘Yep, where are we having it?’

  ‘Second conference room.’

  ‘Okay, I have to go. I have a meeting with Jean.’

  ‘See you at 10:00 hours.’

  TWENTY-SIX:

  ‘Greetings everyone.’

  ‘Greetings Madam.’

  As she took her seat she said. ‘You all know why we are here, to put in place a command structure for the Prowlers. So to that end we are going to integrate the Warriors with the Prowlers. I have thought about this on and off for a while now. But first I want to say welcome to our newly promoted Commanders, Tomas Jayy, Francs Wuu and Mends Luii. We are pleased you are well enough to attend the meeting.’

  Together they stood and bowed saying. ‘Thank you, Madam.’

  ‘Commander Hawk and Rage, why don’t you both outline the problems?’ Suggested Peyton as she studied the three Commanders. Hawk and Rage launched into the problems as they saw them.

  The Commanders were the three Captains they had rescued from the tank on Oraintarre. It had taken their bodies luneras to heal and regain some of their former fitness and strength.

  Until now she had
not met the Commanders as they had been housed on the quarantine ship. For some reason Peyton had assumed they would be older, like Marlo. So she was surprised to see they were nearer Kerol’s age, they looked around forty yentas old.

  Like all the Warriors they were handsome and had adopted the chinsee, all three had varying shades of ash blond hair. But their eyes were completely different to the regular Warriors. None of them had a ring of color and instead of black, their eyes were solid brown.

  Heather and her researches had discovered why some Warriors had brown streaks in their hair or brown patches on their skin or in the case of these Commanders, brown eyes. It was their body’s way of showing the immense stress they had been placed under. Of course not ever Warrior was marked, but like Willian enough were. To Peyton and the other Terran’s way of thinking, it represented a badge of courage, to the Warriors not so much. Heather mentioned in her report that the Commanders eye coloring was due to the amount of time they had spent in the tank. Apparently these three males had rebelled frequently, which earned them repeated punishment. Ward had told Peyton they always took the blame for any infraction supposedly incurred by another Warrior. Which again meant time in the tank. He said they had often joked the tank gave them time to contemplate the Universe and their place in it. Peyton knew she was in the presence of three very special males, who deserved so much more than to be thrown back on regular duty.

  When Hawk and Rage were finished speaking. Telfor asked her. ‘Why are we here?’ Indicating himself and the three Commanders.

  Peyton smiled. ‘Because, I think it is time the Commanders came off the injured list and joined life again. And to do that, I have the perfect position for them.’

  ‘What if we do not feel it is the perfect position?’ Mends asked. Everyone held their breaths waiting to see what Peyton would say or do.

  Calmly she said. ‘Then I will assign you a better position.’