Kidnapped

The Infinitum Government controls the stars. Countless planets, thousands of races, and a whole mess of problems between them. The greatest problem at the moment is a genetically engineered race being threatened with destrcution, a race with an ability that threatens to change the stars. But between escaped convicts, missing prison guards, rebellion, and space pirates, it's all too easy to miss the real problem.

P 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 E

The Jewels of Bangkok | Different From Kidnapping | Heartstone | No Matter What | Business Arrangement | Sleeping Beauties

 

 

Prologue

Planet 5118208 (rehab), Rehabilitation Center 6.2

Prisoner: Mendel Ekard
Serial #: 418.171.514
Race: Draconis/human
Age: 27 HY
Sex: Male
Ht: Type c
Wt: Type b

Unique Features: *scales (Green/gold)
*magics capable
*Violent
Special notes: *mateless - keep isolated

Crime(s): *Patricide - Convicted
*Homicide - suspected
*Illegal use of magics
*Resisting arrest
Sentence: permanent solitary confinement

"Draconis? I've heard about them. Supposed to be really strong. Never seen one though." Sean spoke idly, more from boredom than actual interest. He'd never seen most of the prisoners in the facility before they arrived. It stopped being interesting after the first six months.

The woman at the lobby desk sounded very interested however, "You've never seen a Draconis? Mmm, you're in for a treat then. Is it a full-blood or a half-breed?"

Sean looked back down at the file. "Half. Says here he's part human."

"I saw one on the Report once, she was half-human as well. I bet the full Draconis don't look half so pretty as the human cross-breeds."

Beside Sean another guard rolled his eyes, "You're ridiculous, Tiffany. A prisoner is a prisoner. Nothing to get excited about."

Tiffany made a face, "Stop trying to sound so jaded, Cyan. Or do I need to bring up the incident with the Fornarian two terms ago?"

Cyan glared at her, dove gray eyes narrowed. "It would be that incident which has made me, as you say, jaded. I prefer 'older and wiser,' thanks so much." He snapped his gaze away and returned to his magazine.

"Knock it off, both of you. What's the big deal with this?" Sean angled the file toward his partner and pointed to a line of text.

Cyan shrugged, "Draconis are supposed to be more powerful when they get a mate. And no one knows just how exactly they pick mates so it's best if they're kept away from as many people as possible. That's why we've only got five guards assisting when normally we'd have ten."

"Mate?"

"Yeah, that's what they call them." Cyan pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Basically it's a person or creature with whom they're magically compatible. They find a mate? Their magics increase in strength like three times or more. Depends on how strong or weak the Draconis is to start with, I think. Personally I don't see what the big deal is. Magics capable beings aren't allowed to work here, and we're not getting him anywhere near the other prisoners. But I guess you never know." He shrugged.

Tossing the file on the low table in front of him, Sean snorted and folded his arms behind his head. He leaned back and propped his feet on the table beside the file. "Stupid. If he's half as dangerous as rumors say, we're going to need more than five people to haul him to solitary confinement."

"Hardly. Given he's magics capable I'd say he's got a numbing collar on." Cyan glanced at the clock, "And we're about to find out. Prisoner is due in about twenty minutes, best get moving. Which dock is he landing at?"

Sean scooped up the file as he climbed to his own feet with a yawn, blue eyes skimming the file. "Six.." Absently he reached to smooth down his short, brown hair, and then adjusted his complicated-looking military style jacket. A multitude of keys, cards, and security clearance bands were fastened to it.

"Right. Let's get going. By the time he's locked up it'll be time for dinner. Want to take the express to Mars and eat at home?

"Sure, why not? Ah, but remind me to stop off at my place after dinner to pick up a new in-lens." Sean pressed fingers against his left eye, blinking several times as if trying to clear his vision. "This one has about had it."

"Right. Now move it before we get busted for slacking off." Cyan dragged him onto the transport and keyed in the code for Dock Six.

A moment later their arrival was greeted by a displeased grunt from their captain. "It's about damn time you two got here."

"We're not late," Cyan said dismissively. "Sir."

Captain Waters glared and twirled his thick mustache. "Given what's arriving, I would have thought you'd get here early."

"Yes, sir."

Waters only grunted again. "Fall in. We're receiving a top-level prisoner today and I swear to heaven if anything gets botched it will be your skins. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir," four voices rang sharply out. Cyan and Sean fell into place directly opposite the other two prison guards. Nods and greetings were briefly exchanged as they watched a ship pull slowly into the docking bay.

Sean sighed and watched the ship, making note of the elaborate weaponry that most prisoner transports preferred to avoid - transporters must've been short handed. "What the hell makes this guy so all fired special? He's not the only one in here to have killed someone. Most have done a lot worse." He looked questioningly at the guys across from him.

The one directly across from him shrugged disinterestedly. "He's Draconis. From what I hear, they're causing all kinds of fuss in the IG these days."

"Enough chatting, ladies." Captain Waters barked.

Silence descended as the ship pulled in. Minutes later the door opened and a ramp was extended up. A man appeared wearing a dark blue uniform simple in cut and design - a far cry from the heavy, black and key-bedecked uniforms worn by the rehab guards.

Stifling a yawn, Sean watched as another guard appeared and the two stepped out onto the ramp, dragging another figure behind them with heavy chains. He blinked. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he should stop staring…but he didn't much care.

The scales should have looked odd, should have looked strange or wrong - like a body tattoo that was garish rather than artistic. But these were stunning…beautiful even. Gold-green scales ran all down the back of the man's arms, stopping just past his wrists. They also ran down portions of his chest and all down his back - the fact that he was bare-chested emphasized just how dangerous the prisoner really was. But he wasn't naked, as the highest-risk prisoners arrived. More of the small, glistening scales curved along his cheekbones and brushed just below his eyes.

No wonder Tiffany had said they were something to look at. Six years he'd worked at the prison center. He thought he'd seen everything of real interest. This proved him so very wrong.

He was also tall - definitely Type C. And slender; he certainly wasn't out of shape…but it wasn't the build you would expect of a killer, especially one who had done a good job fighting off the authorities.

Sean sucked in a sharp breath when the man's head turned in his direction and he found himself staring into eyes that made him think of the grass on his old family home that had been torn up when his father sold it. A shade you just didn't see when surrounded by machinery and endless rows of prison cells.

Later on, when he'd time to think back on it, he still would never quite be able to remember what exactly happened.

One minute he and the prisoner were staring at each other, the next all he remembered was shouting and being surrounded by heat. A rough voice ordering him to hold still as he fought to break away from that overwhelming heat. A pounding, drilling pain in his head, soothed by intermittent glances from grass-green eyes. Then nothing.

 

Sean woke up with a low moan, immediately assaulted by strange smells and the feel of unfamiliar fabrics beneath him. Groggily he forced his eyes open, wincing as the bright light overhead momentarily made the room spin. "What…" he closed his eyes again as he sat up, fingers gripping rough fabric in an attempt to find balance.

A deep, rough voice broke into his disordered thoughts. "Are you all right?"

"Fine…" Slowly Sean once more tried to open his eyes, and found he was staring down at a floor that had seen much better days. Lifting his gaze, he traveled up the length of scuffed boots and black pants…to a chest decked with gold-green scales…resting finally on grass green eyes staring intently back.

That rumbling voice again, "Are you certain? I did not mean to cause you such harm…it was difficult escaping."

"What…" Sean faltered and fell silent. He tried again, once his voice was more stable. "What happened? What's going on?"

The Draconis frowned, as if not certain what to say. "I…escaped."

"And you needed me to do it? You should've taken Cyan; he loves these kinds of stories. Even if he says otherwise."

"Cyan? Do you mean one of the other guards? He could not have helped me."

"Why did you snatch me? You realize once they find us, you're going to be put to death right? Damn, my head hurts."

"You really don't know, do you? What happened?"

"No. I don't. I know you escaped and took me with you, and that apparently you can heal…where is your numbing collar?"

Grass green eyes slid cautiously his way, as if the Draconis didn't know what to say. "It was only set to the level of my old magics, not my new magics, so I was able to break it."

"New magics? What exactly is going on here?" Irritably Sean stood up and moved restlessly around the room. He supposed he could just make a break for it; shouldn't be too hard. Or he could use his In-lens to contact someone…except when he tried to turn it on the damn thing wouldn't cooperate. At least the blocker he'd imbedded in it was still functioning. Otherwise he'd be in all sorts of trouble when they found him.

He glanced at his silent kidnapper. Who certainly wasn't acting like a rampaging murderer bent on escape. Struck him more as just someone who was horribly confused. He fumbled for something to say, and recalled the file he'd read earlier. "Your name is Mendel, right?"

The Draconis nodded, "Yes. Mendel Ekard. I was a…what you would call a scholar, I think, on my planet. I study the Draconis."

Not like a murderer at all. Sean was feeling more and more lost. "So how did you break free? No one's ever broken out of Rehab. Not that I remember anyway. And why take me? Having me along while you escape is only going to create more problems for you."

"You're my mate."

Sean blinked, pausing where he'd been examining the sealed window. The latch was broken, he noted absently. He turned to face Mendel. "I'm your what?"

"My mate." Mendel frowned, "I was surprised…magics capable are not allowed to work on rehabilitation planets."

That made Sean freeze. "How…how did you know I'm magics capable? My blocker is still in place." He pressed his fingers to his left eye, feeling the broken in-lens there. "I mean the Information lens itself is broken, but the blocker is still functioning…oh shit…" he sat down hard on the ground. His voice went faint, "The others…do they know what happened? Why you kidnapped me?"

"I'd imagine so."

Sean laughed weakly, face pale. "Shit!" He buried his head in his hands. "That means they know I'm magics capable. I'm dead."

"Because you're magics capable?" Mendel asked.

"Yes!" Sean replied, all but shouting, trying to quell his panic.

Mendel shook his head. "They cannot simply kill you for that, surely…."

"Humans aren't magics capable. We can't be. If we start developing magics, the IG itself will suffer."

Mendel moved to sit near him on the floor. "So why are you magics capable? Genetic tampering was outlawed centuries ago in this quadrant."

"Yeah, but genetic mutations can't be helped," Sean slumped back against the wall, suddenly weary. "My parents and doctor figured it out pretty damn fast, and they used Blockers on me before I could even walk. Haven't been without one since."

Mendel tilted his head. "You're a mutation?"

"Yep. And a dead one, once they find us."

That upset the Draconis. "Why dead?"

"Because humanity's greatest strength is its inability to use magics. Humans control the IG, because those who can't use magics can't be affected by them either. Which means that any magics capable human must be wiped out. The minute we start developing that ability, we lose all those precious high places." He glanced down at his hands, laying idly in his lap. "That's why I got a job on Earth. It was hard…but it's the last place anyone would expect to find a magics capable human."

"Earth?"

"The old name for this planet. Obsolete now that it's just a rehab center, but some of us on Mars still use it."

A calloused hand reached hesitantly out to touch Sean's, gold-green scales dusting the area around the wrist. The skin was a bit darker than Sean's own, as if the Draconis had a slight tan. Mendel's touch was warm, almost hot, recalling to Sean's mind the distant, fuzzy memory when his head had exploded with pain and all he knew was heat and green eyes. He opened his own hand, accepting the comfort offered.

He looked up into impossibly green eyes. "So what's all this mate stuff? I know as much about Draconis as you do about humans. Probably less, in fact."

Mendel shifted closer so that he could sit more comfortably while their hands were entwined. "Mate, I think, is the wrong word. At least the way most people use it." He frowned. "I think a better translation of the term is 'match,' but that is ever a topic of debate."

"But what is it exactly? I was only ever told that it has something to do with increasing your magics."

"Genetic tampering is illegal in three of the four primary quadrants. My planet is the main reason it's now forbidden in my quadrant. More specifically, my race is the reason."

"Draconis are genetically engineered."

"Yes." His smile faded, grip on Sean's hand unconsciously tightening. "We were created by the Conis to serve as…living energy supplies? I suppose that's the best way to phrase it. Conis by nature do not possess very strong magics. Rather, they posses the skill but not the strength?"

That Sean was familiar with, "Right, like the Fornarians. Some say they've got great potential for powerful magics - but their bodies are too minimalist to handle more than what they have."

"Exactly," Mendel bobbed his head, smiling approvingly. Sean suddenly believed the man was a scholar. Somehow they all acted the same, no matter what planet they were from. "But even the Conis weren't foolish enough to alter their own genetic makeup. So they went about creating an outside supply of the strength they needed."

"Let me guess. Something went wrong?"

Mendel laughed. "Yes. They used a variety of different creatures to get what they wanted, including a special type of magics capable lizard found on Coni."

"That would explain the scales," Unthinkingly Sean reached out with his other hand to touch the scales at Mendel's wrist. They shone in the weak light of the room, glinting that strange gold-green. He froze when he realized what he was doing. "Sorry."

The Draconis shook his head, "It does not bother me…I am only surprised that you would touch me - or have anything to do with me."

Sean looked at their entwined hands, then up at him. "Something tells me I should wait to do anything until I hear all about this mate thing. Or match." He shrugged. "And you haven't done anything out of line yet."

Mendel only nodded, and continued his explanation. "To answer your question, yes, that's where the scales come from. And our odd coloring." He indicated his hair, the same light gold as his skin. "It's also where we got our name. It was humans that gave the name to us, did you know? The Conis only ever called us 'energy.' Visiting human dignitaries were the ones that called us 'Draconis' and told us about dragons."

"Somehow I'm not surprised. I guess that got buried along with everything else about your creation."

"Yes. Because by the time we got that name, we were already far more than we should have been. Rather than merely supplying energy, we had become magics capable ourselves. Another flaw in the design emerged as well. The earliest Draconis had been designed to work only for specific Conis; it was something of a safety feature, I think." His brow furrowed in thought. "We weren't supposed to be able to reproduce. Everything sort of went awry."

"Sounds like it was a lot worse than that."

Mendel sighed, "To the Conis, it was. Not only could we reproduce and use magics…the design that enabled us to only work for one particular Conis backfired. Instead of just the Conis getting stronger when paired with us…we got stronger as well when paired off. A lot stronger."

"I remember that. Cyan said your strength increases by at least threefold. How is that possible?"

"Because when we find the person with whom we're compatible, the original design as energy providers…activates, I guess you would say. I naturally match with your magics, and give you all the energy you need to use them…the flaw appears in that it cycles back to me, and makes me stronger so that I can match your new strength, to make you stronger…"

Sean whistled, "I see. A sort of energy cycle. But doesn't it get out of control at some point?"

"No, the increase only goes as high as we can take it. It sort of balances out eventually. You were unconscious during all of it. It's why your head hurts though, and don't be surprised to find that you have new magics - I experimented briefly while you slept, and know that I've acquired healing magics from you."

Nodding, Sean replied. "Yeah, that's one of mine. Only minor healing though…I'd probably be stronger if I was able to use it but I haven't tried using my magics in years. It's just too dangerous…though I guess I have time now, don't I?"

Mendel's face fell, flooded with guilt. "I'm sorry…I saw you and didn't think. I just took the chance offered."

"Which reminds me - how is it we haven't been found yet?" Sean freed his hands from Mendel's and carefully removed the in-lens from his eye. "Guess I don't need this anymore," he couldn't help the happy sigh as he felt his magics stir, freed from the constraints of the Blocker.

Beside him Mendel seemed happier as well. "It's much easier to feel you with that thing gone."

"Feel me?"

"You can't feel it?"

"I'm not used to feeling my own magic, never mind whatever it is you're talking about." Sean frowned, realizing that wasn't true. He could feel something…his magic seemed different. Always before it was a slight tingle at the edge of his senses…now it seemed more to thrum, like it was begging to be set loose. The longer he concentrated on it, the more pronounced it was. Surging free after being Blocked so long?

He closed his eyes, pouring all his focus into it. Trace the pulsing feel of it, like a thought he couldn't quite grasp but knew would come back to him eventually. And something else, intertwined…a new strength, the reason it vibrated rather than tingled. His eyes opened, and he looked at Mendel. "That's you?"

"Yes."

Sean closed his eyes again, focusing on the pain that still lingered in his head. It vanished. Slowly he opened them. "So what do we do now?" he said at last. "With you being a convicted killer and me being an unwanted mutation and all. I suppose this is where I ask if you really did kill him? And we go on some crusade to prove your innocence?"

"No, I killed him." His face darkened.

"Oh." An awkward silence fell. "You don't really seem much like a killer."

Mendel shrugged, anger giving way to misery. Unthinkingly Sean reached out and once more twined their hands together. The Draconis held his hand tightly, and some of his tension seemed to melt away. "I didn't mean to…my father was human, my mother is Draconis."

He looked at Sean, then around the room. "My mother is matched with a Conis, which is less common these days, oddly enough. That was another unexpected development, our being able to match with other races. Anyway…she's matched with a Conis, but she loved my dad. A lot. He didn't return the feeling."

Sean squeezed his hand, smiling when the gesture was returned.

Mendel continued. "My father was an assistant to the Infinitum Government's ambassador on Coni, and my mother was their liaison on Coni, so I actually saw him quite a bit. Though for many years I had no idea who he really was. That was quite the revelation, especially given what I'd just learned…"

"Which was?"

Mendel's face filled with rage again, grip on Sean tightening. He only relented when the other man gasped in pain. "My apologies," he brushed the back of his hand with his thumb.

"I'm fine. Continue. What did you learn?"

"That there is good chance my race will be annihilated. We're too dangerous. Except…"

"Except?"

"Well, we do have a lot of potential, don't we? If the flaws could be worked out, we'd be an incredible benefit to anyone magics capable."

Sean grimaced. "Yeah, I can see where this is going. I'm guessing you weren't going to be in solitaire for very long."

"No. I'm sure after the noise died down they would have taken me to the only quadrant where genetic tampering is still allowed."

"Where does your father fit into this?"

Anger once more flickered over Mendel's face, but this time it was laced with pain. "He was one of the heads of the project."

Sean felt ill. Without stopping to think he shifted forward and embraced the Draconis, the same way his mother had held him when he was a child and couldn't understand why being magics capable would get him killed.

Mendel clearly hadn't been expecting the gesture, as he started and began to pull away. But almost immediately he stopped, and held still. As if not certain what to do. Jerkily, his arms came up and folded around Sean, his head dropped to lay against his shoulder.

Sean didn't think he'd ever felt so warm in his life. It wasn't an oppressive heat either, like working in the middle of summer or early fall when they had to switch to the thermal uniforms even though it wasn't quite cold enough for them. No, this was more a soothing heat. Like stepping inside his home unit after a day of wall duty in the middle of winter, when the warmth just washed over him. But even better than that. He couldn't explain it; just knew he could easily become addicted to it.

Several minutes later he reluctantly broke the silence. "So why has no one found us yet?"

Mendel seemed just as reluctant to move. "Probably because we're so far away. It took me quite some time to travel this far, especially as I was pushing the limit on my new magics, but it's far enough that finding us will take them quite some time."

Something finally clicked in Sean's head, and he pulled away slightly. The room they were in registered. "We're in the residential sector! That's on the opposite side of the planet! Did you use the transporters? How?"

"New magics. Teleport - another one of yours. I just went on instinct after I got free. Just kept going until I found a place that seemed mostly free of guards and cages. Wore me out though. I woke up not much before you did."

Sean frowned. "Teleport magics? I was never capable of that before."

"Are you certain?"

"…I suppose not. I wonder what other tricks are in my bag."

"What?"

"I mean, I wonder what other skills I have that I'm unaware of."

"Ah. I'm still learning all my new magics, obviously. But I would imagine your magics are all protective in nature, as are most of mine."

Sean nodded. "I guess it wouldn't make much sense for me to be your…match if we had clashing magics. Erm…how exactly does this whole match thing work?"

Mendel tilted his head, grass-colored eyes confused. "Work?"

"Yeah, I mean…do we always have to be together? Is there something we have to do to make our magics work? What?"

"Ah. Mostly it means that we aren't magics capable without each other. We're much stronger than we would have been otherwise, but we're also reliant upon one another now."

"Meaning what? I don't get it."

Mendel absently ran his fingers up and down his spine; it was a moment before Sean even realized it, so natural did the gesture seem. The Draconis continued, "Nothing much really changes." He seemed to hesitate, "It's only that…if one of us dies so will the other. If the living one manages to somehow survive, then he will no longer be magics capable."

That brought Sean to a halt, and he froze in their loose embrace. "Die?" his voice cracked. For the first time he felt the stirrings of anger, though he distantly realized it was more panic. Didn't really care. He jerked away, ignoring the fact that he suddenly felt cold. "You mean if you die, I will too? But! How is that fair? Why am I being dragged into this? I was happy the way I was. Even if I had to hide, I was hap…" Just like that his flare of rage folded, killed by the harsh fact that he hadn't been happy. All his life he'd had to hide what he was, and even if it meant he was now in danger, he wasn't hiding anymore.

Well, he was. But it was a different sort of hiding. He looked up at Mendel, guilt flushing his cheeks as he took in the shadow lurking in those grass green eyes. Unable to think of anything better to do, he once more wrapped his arms around the Draconis, this time straddling the man, burying his head in his throat and pressing as close to that overwhelming heat as he could. That he could handle, just drowning in the warmth and letting it thaw the cold fear freezing his veins.

A soft, surprised gasp was Mendel's only reaction, before he again wrapped his arms around Sean, stroking his back as he had earlier. They fell into a silence that should have been awkward.

Sean stirred several minutes later, but didn't move from the embrace. His voice was soft, as if trying to avoid breaking the quiet more than necessary. "So what do we do now?"

"For starters, I suppose we need to get off this planet." Mendel's replied, his voice just as whisper-soft.

"Easier said than done." Reluctantly Sean sat up, staring at Mendel. "They're going to have everything locked down until they find us. Residential has the most off-planet transports but they're as well guarded as the Center's."

Mendel just laughed. "Have you ever been to them?"

"Of course."

"Then can't we just simply teleport to them?"

That made Sean frown, "I'm not sure…wait…how did you get us here? You've never been on Earth before."

"Instinct. The match connects us, so on some level I just knew from you where to go. Only to a point. If you'd been awake, I probably could have found your home…though that would have been unwise."

"Yeah, it would've been." Sean sighed. "Even teleporting, there's all kinds of problems to surmount. But pretending we get past all that, and actually get away from here. What then? Where do we go?" he groaned in frustration and dropped his head back to Mendel's shoulders. "I'm not so sure I'm cut out for this refugee thing."

Warm fingers stroked his back, up and down his spine, occasionally lingering at his neck, just touching the ends of his brown hair. "There are Draconis who would help us, if we could get to them." A breath of laughter. "I guess that's the hard part though. Well…if we can get off this planet and to somewhere relatively safe, I can contact someone I know will help."

"Who's that?"

Sean could feel him smiling as he replied, "My mother."

That wasn't what he'd been expecting. "But…she's not upset with you for killing him?"

"Not when I told her why I did. I was able to speak with her before they came after me…" his voice grew heavy, tired as he recounted the events that had led to his arrest. "I hadn't actually meant to kill him…I just wanted to talk to him. To know why he was doing it…especially considering my mother. I shouldn't have…but several others and I have been investigating for ages. And when I found out he was part of it, I just snapped."

His grip on Sean tightened, almost to the point of pain. Not sure what else to do, Sean just held him close. After a moment, Mendel continued. "I only meant to…I don't know…knock some sense into him. Make him see reason. It just hurt. Then when I realized he was dead, I just fled. Straight for my mother. She's wonderful…I wouldn't have blamed her for turning me in. But she didn't. She even tried to help me escape. I'd hate to drag her back into it…but I don't see any other choice."

"We'll just have to work hard to find somewhere else to hide after we're on our feet." Sean sat up again. "Funny how easy it is to say 'we.' It should feel strange."

Mendel looked at him, a softness slowly replacing the haunted look in his eyes. "I guess it should. I am sorry for inadvertently dragging you down with me."

"Nothing to be sorry for. You didn't do it on purpose. I was bored anyway. I've never left my own system, never mind my own quadrant. So it'll be interesting if nothing else." Curiosity won out as he continued to stare at Mendel, and he reached tentatively up to touch the scales that ran under his eyes and along his cheekbones. He was surprised to find them as warm as the rest of his skin; for some reason he thought they'd be cool.

A soft chuckle broke his reverie; he flushed and dropped his hand. "Sorry."

"It does not bother me." Mendel's eyes were alight with amusement. "Most people are curious about them. Humans especially, though I never understood quite why."

"That's easy," Sean grinned and once more examined the scales with his fingers, entranced by the shiny gold-green color. "You remind us of dragons. It's neat."

"Yes, it's where our name comes from. But I've read all about them, and heard several stories from the humans visiting our planet. It doesn't seem terribly captivating a thing to me."

"I guess it's a human thing." His hand started to move from scales to hair, and he froze as he realized what he was doing. And it finally hit him just how close he was to the Draconis, and how…personal their position was. Still it didn't seem strange or uncomfortable, just…he wasn't usually so friendly with strangers. But the entire situation had been bizarre from the moment they locked eyes. That was the one thing he did remember in all the confusion. He looked at them again, those eyes the color of a time and place of comfort that no longer existed.

Disconcerting, how much better he felt staring into them.

"You look confused."

Sean shook his head. "Overwhelmed, more like. Don't you find it so, to be hiding away in a strange place with a stranger on your lap? Groping your face no less?"

That surprised a laugh out of Mendel, and Sean found he liked the sound of the Draconis laughing. "Groping? Hardly that. I've children do much worse than this to me." He reached up with his own hand to stroke Sean's forehead and cheeks, touch soft and light and so very warm. His hand wandered to brush briefly through strands of his soft, brown hair. "And after all the events that led me this far?" He shrugged. "It's not that bad. I would have preferred to find you by simpler means, but this is better than never having found you at all."

"I don't understand."

Mendel dropped his eyes briefly, and then looked up again. "I suppose it's another part of the design. Until a certain age, Draconis are more or less matched with their mothers. It's the best way to teach us how to use magics. But once we reach a certain age, we're on our own. It never feels quite right, being matchless. I guess…the best way to describe it is to say it's sort of like always being hungry. Or perhaps like you've misplaced something and can't find it. Once we find a match, everything falls into place. That's probably why most prefer to translate the term as 'mate.'"

"That makes sense. It's certainly an easy relationship to romanticize."

"It's not unusual for such a thing to occur."

"For what to occur?"

The Draconis looked away, staring blankly at the rest of the room. "Romance. There's always some sort of bond between matches, beyond the magics one. Sometimes it's familial, other times it's a friendship, like my mother's. And then at times it's romantic."

Sean blinked, suddenly realizing why Mendel wasn't looking at him - he was embarrassed.

But the Draconis continued speaking before he could think of anything to say. His cheeks were dusted pink, and he finally looked back at the man in his lap, "My mother teased me when I was younger, because I'd always hoped that's what mine would be. She said I spent too much time studying. Then I was busy with investigating rumors of plans to wipe the Draconis out, and put aside hopes of finding a match. And after I was arrested I gave them up all together."

"Oh," Sean breathed, silent for a long moment. Then he smiled faintly, bringing his hands up to brush his thumbs over the scales on Mendel's cheeks. "I'm guessing you don't see me as much of a brother."

The pink darkened on Mendel's cheeks, "No." His hands rest lightly, hesitantly, on Sean's hips. "I guess it's not a very appropriate thing for me to say right now. So suddenly."

"Well…" Sean hesitated for a heartbeat, then dipped his head to brush his lips against Mendel's. He meant for it to be just a brief touch…but more of that fabulous heat beckoned him, and he pressed their lips more firmly together, searching for and finding that marvelous heat. His fingers tangled in Mendel's hair as he deepened the no longer cautious kiss, taking as much of the warmth as he could, it tasted faintly of whatever fruit-based juice they'd given him on his flight in. Mendel was familiar and new all at once, and Sean realized he was addicted.

Breathless, he pulled away. "That's probably more inappropriate," he grinned.

Mendel looked dazed; he shook it off with effort. "Ah…I'm not going to complain. I was expecting you to kill me, or turn me in, when you woke up. Not…this."

"Well if I'm your match, or mate, or whatever, I suppose it's best if we get along." Sean allowed himself a moment to enjoy the feel of Mendel's hair, thick and soft in his hands. Then he shook himself, and forced himself to stand. "But we'll have to work out details later. If we don't start working on our escape now, we'll lose our chance. It's best if we go while they still think we're somewhere in 6.2. Hopefully it will take them an age to realize we're in 10."

The Draconis blinked at him, then nodded and accepted Sean's hand up.

Sean grinned, "I suppose we should get you a shirt or something. I'd lend my jacket but you're skinnier and taller than me so it wouldn't really fit." He tapped his chin, "I wonder if we have time to run to my home unit and grab a few things."

"We should. Especially if we can teleport there." He smiled when Sean looked wary, "You can do it. It's your inherent ability, so you'll be better than I am."

"Right. Except I haven't tried to use my magics for years." He frowned at Mendel's quiet chuckle. "Okay so I healed myself a little while ago…but teleport magics? And two people at that." Grass green eyes were warm and reassuring as they stared back at him. "Oh, all right. So what do you do? Just stand there? Or do you need to hold onto me?"

Mendel gave another quiet chuckle. "It works best if I hold on."

"All right." They clasped hands, and seeing his uncertainty Mendel wrapped his free arm around his waist. Sean closed his eyes a moment, feeling out the proper magics he now knew were there. He opened them again, immediately soothed by the familiar green watching him. "Don't let go."

"I won't."

 

Chapter one

One Term Later

Planet 5118208 (Rehab), Rehabilitation Center 6.2

Tentacles sucked. Really really really sucked.

Ignoring the spots beginning to obscure his vision because of the slimy, sticky tentacle wrapped around his throat, Cyan fumbled for the Stinger attached to the left side of his pants. Pulling it free as the troublesome squid creature began to lift him up to slam into the ceiling, he rammed the sharp, metallic end of the Stinger into the section wrapped around his neck.

He smirked as with a rough squawk of protest the prisoner wrenched the wounded tentacle free. As it pulled back he thumbed the on-switch, and waited as the creature was zapped into unconsciousness. Stooping, he switched off the Stinger and returned it to its loop, giving the large, mottled orange squid creature a swift kick to reassure himself it was unconscious.

Behind him two new recruits gaped, and the Captain sighed. "Honestly, McCracken," he eyed Cyan. "What is it with you and Sardorans? Every time we get one in, they try to escape and go immediately for you. I swear you attract the things." Captain Waters stroked his overlarge black moustache.

Cyan shuddered. "Please don't say that. Beats the hell out of me why they see me and go 'Oh! Attack!' Seriously, I wish they'd pick on someone else." He rubbed his throat, which was rapidly bruising and slick with slime, and glared at his boss. "Of course you could just stop assigning me whenever they come in."

"Nah. Best free entertainment around."

Rolling his eyes, Cyan gave the Sardoran a last kick before moving away, boots clomping and rattling on the metal landing between the two rows of cells for larger prisoners. "I'm done for the day. Let the fresh meat finish up here, you don't need me anymore."

Waters nodded, twirling his moustache. "Go get cleaned up. I'll see you in a month."

"A month?" Cyan repeated, confused. Then his expression cleared. "Oh, yeah. Vacation."

Waters just rolled his eyes. "All the slacking off you do in Tiffany's office and you can't be bothered to remember your own damn vacations?"

"Vacations are boring. Don't reprimand me in front of the fresh meat. Sir. You two - get that seafood locked up." He turned away as the new recruits snapped salutes and set to work locking the Sardoran up while the Captain barked orders. Distantly he heard the splash as the squid was deposited into his pool-cage.

His steps clanged on the metal walkway and stairs as he left the highest level of Ward 3, descending from 3.3 down to 3.1, ignoring the occasional jeer from troublesome inmates and greetings from the more tolerable ones. At the sole entrance/exit to the ward, he paused while various devices checked his clearances - eyes, blood, prints, and the two keys embedded on bands worn on each forearm. He passed through another fifteen checks before exiting the S-Wing of the prison entirely and was able to take a transport to the G-Wing. Even there, it was another five clearances before he finally accessed the locker room assigned to him and nine other 1st Class Guards.

His uniform and keys were covered in Sardoran slime. Muttering beneath his breath, Cyan began the tedious process of removing every last one of the numerous keys fastened to the front of his intricate-looking jacket, which was a mass of hooks, tabs, pockets and loops.

As a 1st Class Guard, he was in possession of 150 keys, and they came in a wide variety of forms. Everything from special pills that put "chem-keys" in his bloodstream that needed renewing twice a day (10) to special microchips fastened to various parts of the heavy fabric of his black, military style jacket (50) to codes in his In-lens (15), to key cards (25) and even the old fashioned metal keys that were obsolete everywhere but Rehab (5). There were also the unique serial codes embedded in armbands worn on his fore and upper arms (10), the key codes encrypted in the microchip in his brain (25), and finally the codes imbedded in his fingerprints (10).

The 0 Class Guards carried 200 keys, and Captain Waters 205.

There were very good reasons only one prisoner had ever escaped from Rehabilitation Center 6.2.

Double checking that everything had been removed, counting his keys twice, Cyan pitched his jacket into the cleaner and set to work on the dozen or so weapons attached to his pants and undershirt - the Stinger would need cleaning, so that was set aside for maintenance to pick up. Into his locker went a small variety of guns, clubs and stunners. Tossing the rest of his clothes after the jacket, he walked naked to the showers.

He let out a long sigh as the hot water covered him, steam filling the shower cube. In short order the smell of citrus and soap mingled with the hot steam, and Cyan scrubbed and rescrubbed until he was certain every last trace of slime was gone. Suds and foam snaked down his fair skin, pink from the hot water. His body was tight with muscle, no spare bit of fat anywhere. Various scars ran the length of his body; one at his left arm and around his waist evidence of past encounters with Sardorans, with more than a dozen others speaking of encounters with other prisoners.

Slicking back his black hair, he grabbed a towel as he exited the shower, mashing the button to turn the water off. Reaching into his locker, he pulled out a small tube and rapidly coated the bruises on his throat - it would numb the soreness and speed the healing. Feeling much better, he started to don a new uniform - then remembered he was on vacation.

Feeling a little less relaxed he reached instead for his civilian clothes. The pants were much in the style of those he wore on duty - heavy, durable, but a bit softer and dark blue rather than black. His shirt was cotton, a luxury he could well afford, and dyed a dark burnt orange.

Several minutes later his hair was dried and brushed, a slight wave to the dark strands, and he sat down to lace up his boots. Standing, he carefully stowed his keys in their security box, triple locking it and stashing it at the bottom of his locker. Finally, he replaced a clear In-lens in his left eye, blinking until it settled into place, making it impossible to tell there was anything over either of his dove-gray eyes.

Exiting the locker room he stepped into the office where he and the other nine reported before and after every shift. And where he often went to "slack off" when his presence wasn't required on the cell blocks. Sector six was home to the most dangerous prisoners, from the violent to the incredibly violent to the violently insane and anyone else who needed to be kept under careful watch. Which meant most of them were so numbed and locked down they were either unconscious or so close to it they may as well be.

"Hey, Tiff." Cyan greeted the woman at the desk, her own uniform remarkably plain compared to those of the Guards. She was in possession of only fifty keys, all that was necessary to complete her required tasks.

She looked up from her paperwork, blond curls bobbing. "Cyan." Hazel eyes blinked in surprise. "You own civi clothing?"

"Shush, woman." Cyan grinned as he strode toward her high desk, leaning over the counter. "You picked this shirt out, remember?"

Tiffany smiled playfully back. "Didn't think you'd ever actually wear it."

Cyan rolled his eyes. "Working hard?"

"You know it. Unlike you. Going on vacation, right? Where you going?"

Cyan shrugged. "Probably just home. Haven't really decided yet."

"Uh-huh," Tiffany said, unconvinced. "Still sulking, are we?"

"I am not sulking." Cyan snorted. "There's nothing to sulk about."

"You won't even say his name anymore if you can help it."

"Whatever, Tiff. I say his name plenty - you're just never around to hear it."

Tiffany just looked at him, folding her arms across her ample chest. "Let's hear it then."

"Sean, Sean, Sean, Sean." Cyan glared at her. "Happy now?"

"Damn, you are still mad at him."

Cyan turned away, "No shit. Anyway, I just came to say goodbye." He tossed his security box keys at her. "Take care while I'm gone. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Che. Take care yourself. See you when you get back." She blew him a kiss, forcing him to smile before he was gone.

Outside, Cyan shouldered the bag that had his few belongings - ID, wallet, spare In-lens - and stepped into the public transport just outside the center. He keyed in the code for the residential sector. He needed to pick up a few things there, maybe grab something to eat, and then he'd catch a late flight home to Mars.

The Guards spent most of their time on the Rehabilitation planet - some of them still called it 'Earth' but that was considered old fashioned. Most called it Rehab. The better part of every term spent there, moving from their assigned Facility to the residential assigned them when they had time off. They worked in eight-hour shifts, rotating every few months from 1st to 2nd to 3rd. To break up the draining intensity of the work, a month's vacation once a year was required of all Guards.

So reluctantly Cyan boarded the shuttle that would take him to his home on Mars - a house that had cost him a great deal, but which he saw very little of. Rehab Guards made sixty points an hour, at least twice the average pay of most places, but seldom had the time to spend that money. Most, when they went on their mandatory vacation, did their absolute best to blow all that they'd saved up.

Cyan splurged on nice clothes, his house, and a few smaller items. Otherwise, his savings just accumulated. Not that he really needed the savings to begin with. He frowned, looking out the window of the transport shuttle - the normal shuttle, rather than the express, so it would be a few hours before he landed.

He'd probably just hang around town. When you spent eleven months of every year taking care of the galaxies' worst criminals, safe and sound at home was usually the most appealing type of vacation.

He could go planet hopping, or to the shipyards to pester the pilots and look at their ships. There was any number of things he could do, if he really wanted. But it wasn't as much fun without Sean along. Cyan's expression darkened as his thoughts inevitably turned to his missing friend - now a wanted criminal. Also magics capable. He was still livid Sean had never told him.

Cyan hoped he was okay, wherever he was. The one brief letter he'd left wasn't much - just a contact point to use for extreme emergencies.

He half wished there was an emergency, not that he could make the contact anyway. He and Sean's mother had spent the better part of the past year under heavy suspicion, for possibly aiding Sean and the Draconis to whom he was apparently mated.

If he ever saw Sean again, he was going to punch him

 

Planet 1311819 (Mars), Settlement 2

Absently Cyan returned the few greetings tossed his way as he walked from the shuttle station to his home - a stand alone rather than a room in an apartment complex, a rarity on the settlements where space was never wasted. He slowed to a stop in front of the house just two down from his own, frowning.

"Her lights shouldn't be off…" worry creased his face as he walked across the yard - covered in the grayish-green grass grown on mars. He knocked on the door, growing more concerned when Sean's elderly mother didn't immediately respond. Usually she either opened the door or keyed in the open command for him to let himself in.

Hesitantly he tried the door, going cold when it opened without resistance. That wasn't right - she always kept it locked. Stepping inside, Cyan made his way through the house, checking each room as he went.

He found her in bed, breathing a sigh of relief that at least she'd been strong enough to get that far. But looking at her pale face, trembling hands, and the medicine cluttered on the bedside table…maybe it was more that she hadn't been strong enough to leave the bed in the first place.

"Alice," he said reprovingly, dropping to sit beside her on the bed. "I told you to contact me if you started to feel worse."

The woman just shook her head, silent. She attempted to smile at him, a pale and older version of her handsome son, but it was shaky at best.

Increased worry flooded Cyan's face. "You're just getting worse, aren't you? I don't care what you say, Alice. I'm calling a doctor."

"No…"

"Yes." He said firmly. "You look awful, and you know damn good and well that Sean would want you to get medical help." He stroked her hair, alternately ignoring and soothing her protests. After helping her take a few more pills, he went and called for a doctor.

"I want my son," Alice managed in a weak voice. If she'd had the strength, she would have cried. She looked at Cyan, "We both know a doctor isn't going to be of much help. Either I'll get better or I won't, and I'm thinking I'm too old to be getting much better. I want to see my son."

Cyan was silent for a long moment. "He didn't mean to leave you," he said at last.

"I know," Alice said. "I don't blame him at all. But I want to see him…" Unspoken but heavy in the air was 'one last time.'

Another silence stretched out between them. At last Cyan shrugged, and stood. "I'm on vacation. Thought I'd go planet hoping instead of hanging around here for once. If you promise to get better, Alice, I'll bring you back a souvenir." He winked.

"A souvenir would be lovely. You're a sweet boy, Cyan."

"Nah, I've just got you fooled." Kissing her cheek, he made sure she was settled in and had what she needed ready to hand. He turned off the lights and locked the doors and windows as he left.

Outside, he allowed all his worry to show on his face. He walked automatically to his own home, and in a semi-daze began to make the arrangements for his new vacation plans.

He spent the remainder of the night at Sean's house, looking out for Alice and fretting quietly about what he was going to do.

Planet hopping was easy - he could do that without suspicion. But the contact point Sean had given him was in quadrant three. The planet Coni, home to the Draconis - and where Sean had last been seen - was also in quadrant three. There was no way Sean could just happily wander that way, or even leave quadrant two, without setting off alarms in the people that were probably still keeping an eye on him.

Well, he'd solve that problem when he came to it. Planet hopping would take him to the edge of his quadrant; maybe something could be arranged at the border.

Once Alice drifted off into a mostly restful slumber, Cyan returned home to pack his things. As the morning bells chimed throughout the city, he walked briskly back to the shuttle station.

Inter-galactic shuttle 00411811, the Dark Dancer

Cyan was dozing, lost somewhere between waking and sleeping, dimly fretting over what he'd do when he landed on Partan - just four stops from the quadrant border. He still had not devised a way to cross into quadrant three without arousing suspicion.

It was possible they were no longer watching him, but he doubted he was that lucky. If he went anywhere near quad three, alarms would go off somewhere. You'd think, given his connections, that he'd have more freedom. Then again he'd always made sure as few as possible knew he had powerful connections.

He was roused from his doze by the sounds of shouting. Slowly, reluctantly, he opened his eyes and sat up. He was in a private cabin on the massive shuttle, often called a 'star-hopper' because it traveled from galaxy to galaxy.

Something was wrong. He lifted up the shutter covering his window and looked out. They weren't moving. Rapidly he ran through the possible reasons for stopping such a large ship.

No warnings, so not a malfunction. They were three hours into the journey and shouldn't be making any sort of stop. Try as he might, he could only come up with one reason.

Pirates.

They weren't uncommon in this sector…but it was a damned bold band of pirates who attacked an inter-galactic vessel.

He hadn't heard any weapons fire, so unless they were using magics to cause harm - unlikely - they weren't overly violent. Should he get involved?

Unwise. Even a Rehab Guard could only handle so many criminals at once, and he didn't have all his toys with him. As well trained as he was in hand-to-hand, taking on armed pirates with his fists and a single stunner was not the most brilliant of ideas.

Most likely the pirates would loot the ship and then flee - perhaps taking one or two hostages until they were safe away. Despite their reputation, most pirates avoided excess violence.

Hostages.

That gave him an idea. But would it work?

Only one way to find out. Standing and stretching, he discarded his cumbersome jacket and retrieved his stunner from his bag. Leaving his belongings on his seat, he fixed the stunner to his belt and ventured out of his cabin.

As it turned out, he didn't have to go looking for the pirates. Barely had he reached for the door when it was slammed open and he found himself shoved back into his seat and his stunner confiscated. Shaking his head, he looked up at the pirates - both human - assaulting him. "Either of you the Captain?"

"Shut up and stay still, and you won't come to any harm."

Cyan just looked at them and smirked faintly, "So you're not the Captain?"

"No," the second man said impatiently as they rifled through his cabin.

"I don't suppose you'd call him for me?" The men ignored him. "Okay, then." In a burst of movement Cyan launched himself at the men, punching one and sending him into the other one, tumbling them both to the ground. He grinned at the conscious one before knocking him out. After some fumbling and grunting, he managed to move them both to the hallway.

Retrieving his stunner, he waited for others to arrive.

Arrive they did, knocked unconscious one after another by his gun as they came through the door, until at last number five agreed to go and fetch the Captain. Cyan waited, somewhat dumbfounded that so far something seemed to be working.

He looked up as a figure appeared in the doorway - and almost groaned aloud. "I might have known I'd be dealing with a damned Fornarian."

The Captain's thin, pale brows rose. "And just what is going on here?" His voice was deep, mellow, his accent clipped. He was a Fornarian through and through, from the stick-like limbs just a bit longer than human limbs, and thin, spider-like fingers. His skin was pale gray, hair an almost equally pale gold-brown. His eyes however were a deep, warm brown - the color of the maple syrup he paid far too much money for just so he could have it with breakfast on those few days he was home on Mars.

Fornarians came from a planet that was almost all rock and sheer cliff face. Food, water, and comfort were all rare commodities. Their bodies had adapted accordingly; they were adjusted to survive on minimal nourishment - the reason they were so thin they'd be considered unhealthy on any other planet. Their limbs were extra long to make climbing easier, with especially hard bones and strong, thick skin. But the minimalist build of their bodies left very little room for anything else. Fornarians had the potential for powerful magics - but they lacked the energy to perform more than the few small spells they used for hunting, climbing, and small healings.

He was good looking. It was almost a shame, really, that Cyan had sworn off Fornarians. Just as well though - this wasn't really a leisurely vacation he was on.

"Care to explain to me why you're lounging around shooting my men?"

Cyan snorted, "You make it sound like stunning pirates is a bad thing. You do realize you're the bad guys, here?"

"So long as I'm raiding the ship," the Captain replied with a grin, "I'm in charge and I don't like having my men shot by some upstart civi with a stunner."

"Right." Cyan couldn't hide his mirth.

The Captain quirked a brow at him, but one of his men approached before he could speak. "Excuse me one moment."

"Of course," Cyan said politely.

The Fornarian turned aside briefly to speak in low tones with one of his men. After a moment he turned back to Cyan. "Would you mind telling me what you want? As amusing as this is, my time is short."

Cyan nodded. "I want you to take me hostage."

That gave the Captain pause. "Might I ask the reason for such a request?"

"No." Cyan grinned.

He was regarded in silence for several long seconds. "No. We don't need hostages - we plan our raids far better than that."

"I'll pay you. Name a price."

Again he managed to surprise the Fornarian into silence. "Take him," the Captain said at last to the man he'd spoken with earlier. "I want to continue this intriguing offer - you lot finish up and notify me when we're done. Are we still in the clear?"

"Aye, Captain." The man, obviously his second - and human - smirked. "This raid is going beautifully."

"Of course. We'll be in the Captain's quarters."

"Aye, Cap'n."

Cyan let himself be dragged roughly through the private cabins and through the ship to the Captain's quarters. He settled into a chair at a small table, as the Fornarian Captain sat down across from him.

"So," the Fornarian looked at him. "You want to be a hostage?"

"Yes."

"Hmm…" another pirate had brought along Cyan's travel bag, and the Captain began to rifle through it. On the table he set an extra unit for Cyan's stunner, his wallet, and a worn photograph. He ignored the wallet for the photo. He lifted a brow at the man across the table. "You carry a picture of the dead High Chancellor and his wife?"

"No," Cyan replied. He'd forgotten that small detail. Ah, well. It might actually make his being kidnapped more believable.

"Then what do you call this?" the Captain held the photo up. It was an image of a distinguished looking middle-aged man, dressed to the nines in what had been the fashion a little more than a decade ago. He had graying black hair and amber eyes. Beside him was a woman in an elaborate blue and silver dress, her coiffed hair a warm brown and eyes a soft gray.

"A picture of my parents."

For the third time, he rendered the Fornarian speechless. "You don't look much like your brother."

"Yes, I know." Cyan said. "I'm thankful for that every single day."

The Captain laughed. "So you must be Cyan Alexander."

"I prefer McCracken these days," Cyan replied. "It keeps my brother's fame away from me."

"I see. Why do you want us to kidnap you?"

"I need to speak with a friend. I can't get into quad three on my own - never mind why. I just want you to take me with you and drop me off on a planet in quad three."

"What planet?"

"Kreska."

The Captain nodded. "You're willing to pay for it? Must be quite the friend you're going to see. What, did he steal your girlfriend or something?"

"Nothing so frivolous. Let's just say it's a matter of life and death."

"All right." A knock at the door, and the man Cyan had seen before popped his head in to notify them of pending departure.

Grinning, the Captain stood. "Inform the crew that we're taking a hostage along with us." He slid his maple eyes toward Cyan. "A million points?"

"Done," Cyan grabbed his things and stood. He smirked. "I told you I could afford any price."

"So I see." The Captain motioned for him to precede him out the door.

Cyan paused in front of him, "So what's your name, anyway? Or do I just call you Captain?"

"My name is Adalsteinn, though most simply call me 'Einn." He looked Cyan up and down, "We can discuss what you'll call me later."

A brow lifted, and Cyan laughed. "Forget it, Fornarian. One of you was enough. I've learned my lesson. And I'm on a business trip." He smirked as they stepped onto the transport, the last to leave the star-hopper.

"We'll see." Einn smirked back. "It's a long haul to Kreska, and you are my hostage."

"Your paying hostage." Cyan said firmly.

Einn just laughed as he keyed in the codes to take them to his ship.

 

Chapter Two

Planet 11181911-3554 (moon of kreska), private settlement

Sean woke feeling warm - almost hot, but rather than pull away he instead pressed closer to the source of it, hand sliding across soft flesh and smooth scales as he lazily caressed Mendel's chest. He let his blue eyes slide shut again, perfectly content to stay where he was until someone or something forced him to get out of bed.

A deep chuckle broke through the hazy remnants of sleep and reluctantly he cracked his eyes open, angling his head up to glare gently at the man he was curled up against. "What?"

"Nothing," grass-green eyes sparkled with amusement. "As hard as you work during the day, it is always funny to see you so lazy every morning."

Sean let out a faint 'hmph' and resumed stroking Mendel's chest, fingers dancing lightly across flesh and pressing more firmly at scales until Mendel was doing anything but laughing. Sean continued to tease him, hands flitting across stomach and abdomen, dropping lower for a moment before moving back up his chest. "Lazy, am I?"

"More like evil," Mendel managed.

Snickering, Sean tangled his fingers in Mendel's light gold hair, lifting himself up to kiss the Draconis soundly and moaning as Mendel began to return Sean's taunts full measure.

Their good mood was absent a few hours later, as they worked in their office, pouring over new reports, transcripts of recorded conversations and a handful of other documents, all of them pertaining to one thing - the Draconis. Rather, the questionable treatment and preservation of the Draconis.

Currently the outlook wasn't promising. On the surface was a conflict as to how safe it was to permit the continued existence of the Draconis - and it wouldn't be the first time a genetically engineered race had been destroyed. The governed sections of the known galaxy were divided into four primary quadrants. Of these, one through three had outlawed genetic experimentation. And the last was allowed to conduct them exclusively for medical reasons.

At least officially.

More difficult, there were several someone's tangled up in the uncertain fate of the Draconis. Their creators, the Coni, wanted to refine them back into what they were originally meant to be - magics energy supplies. Still others - some Coni, the Draconis and their mates, and a few other supporters - wanted the Draconis to be left alone. And a few even wanted them wiped out.

The Infinitum Government commanded the four quadrants, and were currently contemplating what should be done with the Draconis. As of yet, the IG had taken no active roll in the decision, Coni itself having not requested its direct intervention. It was, however, only a matter of time. Until then, debates waged across Coni as factions argued for and against the fate of the genetically engineered race.

Under the radar of the IG, a group was experimenting on the Draconis somewhere in the fourth quadrant where genetic experimentation was still legal.

Mendel sat at a wide desk, surrounded by touch screens and a bank of half a dozen viewing screens. He typed at a rapid rate, the faintest chimes sounding with each stroke of the keys. His green eyes were hard with concentration as he worked, switching rapidly from file to file, collating and shifting information in a seemingly haphazard fashion. Faces flashed as personal files came up, vanishing again to be replaced by long lists of numbers and what appeared to be detailed information on various unknown persons.

The sound of a door swishing open broke his concentration, and he watched as Sean entered.

Who was failing miserably at his attempts not to yawn. Beads of water still trickled down his chest from a recent shower. Stifling another yawn, he pulled a gray tank top over his head. He halted behind Mendel, nuzzling his neck and pressing a kiss to a scaled shoulder before moving to his own desk.

Once there he pulled on a dark blue sweater he'd been carrying, then flipped open a small, square leather case. Carefully stored inside was what appeared to be a contact lens, a barely visible strip of black lining the edge of it. An Information-lens, or In-lens, used to store any and all manner of data - codes, passwords, schematics, nearly anything so long as there was room or a way to access information stored elsewhere.

Sean slipped the In-lens over his left eye, blinking until it settled into place. His stored unique data on everything he and Mendel did, and was one of only two places to locate the codes to the information stored on Mendel's computers. "Anything of note?" he asked as he sat down, activating his own small private computer, thumbing through notes he'd made the previous day.

"No. All the reports are in; I've just keyed them to you." Mendel didn't look up from his work. "And all four will be available for conference today, in approximately thirty minutes."

Nodding, Sean called up the reports, skimming them briefly before going back to the first and beginning a more detailed perusal. One-handed, he occasionally typed in notes on a smaller, separate screen. The two worked in silence, speaking only occasionally and then only in half sentences and partial questions, in the manner of people familiar and comfortable with each other.

Several minutes later four images appeared in a semi-circle above and around Sean's desk.

The first light screen held the image of a well-built man, roughly mid-thirties or so in age, with white-blonde hair and pale blue eyes. He was dressed in a well-made dark blue jacket, with silver trim at the high collar and silver frogs in the shape of infinity fastening the front of it. His features were large and sharp; he looked as if he'd been carved from a block of ice. He nodded a slow, stern greeting to Sean.

In the screen next to him was an image of a woman, her skin tainted red from the peculiar chemicals unique to those inhabited planets of the first quadrant. Her hair was a dark, coppery brown, as were the piercing eyes behind the In-specs she wore, a much more powerful version of the more common In-lens. Her dark lips were pursed, as if she'd just eaten something particularly unpleasant but was too polite to say so.

The next image was of another woman, a full-blooded Draconis. Her skin was a pale, pale green, jewel green scales fanning out from her forehead and nose to cover the majority of her face, trailing down her neck to vanish beneath her black robes. More scales were visible on her arms, crawling down to just brush the knuckles of her hands. Her dark gray hair was neatly plaited and wound about the back of her had. She smiled warmly at Sean, despite the shadows in her emerald green eyes.

The last screen was also of a Draconis, this one a male with skin a strange creamy-gold color, his scales just a shade or two darker. His gold brown hair was cropped short, feathery strands of it brushing against his cheeks and forehead. His features were pretty, a masculine sort of delicate; the frustration clouding his face seemed horribly out of place.

"Summer," Sean nodded to the male Draconis. "Spring," to the female. Next to the redheaded woman, "Fall," and the man. "Winter. I'm glad all of you could make it."

The group murmured brief greetings and acknowledgements. Sean continued as they quieted, "Fall - any luck yet?"

The red-skinned woman shook her head. "No. I'm still trying, but I'm just not that high up on the ladder. I'm only a lab assist, stuck with all the grunt work." She hesitated, "I…I may be getting closer, but it's going to take some time yet and I don't want to promise results I may or may not get."

"That's all right. Trying is the most we can ask of you. Your reports are still plenty useful. Have you had any trouble with sending them to us?"

Fall shook her head, copper curls flying about gently. "Only the usual and I deal with them well enough. If things get to be too difficult, I'll let you know in the agreed upon way. Never fear."

"Very well." Sean shifted his attention to the pale man beside her. "Winter?"

The man reluctantly shook his head, "Slow going here as well. My position is at least as tricky as Fall's. My field is narrowing, but I'm starting to think that those left to investigate are all involved in some way."

"Isn't that always the way in politics? Everyone has their hand in something, if not several things." Sean sighed, "Any prime suspects?"

Winter nodded this time, "J and S at the very least - though J I haven't quite figured out. I'm keeping an eye on him, but if it's all right, I'm going to focus most of my effort on S. He's the easier of the two, and the more likely to get information from."

"I trust your judgment. Just keep us informed."

"Of course."

Sean moved on, turning to the Draconis. "Things aren't going so well on Coni, are they?" he asked the elderly woman.

She shook her head, "The officials and diplomats and ambassadors and I swear even their servants are all fighting like children over what should be done with us." She scowled at her thoughts. "Meanwhile, we Draconis are getting crushed underfoot - both accidentally and intentionally. It's frustrating; there's so much bickering and backstabbing no decisions are being made."

"Things aren't much better amongst the stars," the second Draconis said sourly. "The general impression is that the Draconis are dangerous. Everywhere I go I get suspicious looks from those that recognize what I am. More than once I've had the authorities called for no good reason at all. I don't know who's seeding or feeding the rumors, but we're not well thought of. I'd almost swear it's the Temperast disaster all over again."

Sean grunted, "It's not completely unlike it. Except that the Draconis aren't dangerous animals rapidly destroying the planet on which they were made. And wiping out the Temperast didn't mean killing off mates as well. Which is something I've noticed these rumors all fail to mention. But I guess the deaths of upwards of 40,000 Draconis and their mates don't much matter to people."

The group fell into a grim silence, until Sean sighed again and resumed speaking. "Have you obtained any new information, Summer?

"None. To date there are twenty-four missing persons - twelve Draconis and their mates, which corresponds with information sent to me from Fall. Of those twenty-four, only six of the mates were reported missing. All the others were unattached, most likely chosen for that very reason. The few reports of suspicious persons or vehicles all mention a silver ship, but the description they give could be any merchant-class ship in any port from here to the end of the stars." He let out a frustrated huff of air. "No one has reported any suspicious persons, so I have no idea where to look next. I probably won't until Fall reports new arrivals at her lab. I'll keep on what few leads I have but I doubt I'll learn much."

The copper haired woman looked unhappy, "We never see the ship arrive or leave - the one thing I can tell you is that we're buried deep, deep underground. I can't even remember the last time I saw the sun. New 'specimens' just show up in the lab. I can't even give you names, all we get are vitals."

"The pictures you send are more than enough," Sean said soothingly. "We can usually use those to figure out who they are, and eventually what they were doing at the time they were kidnapped. It's just the 'where are they being taken' that's eluding us. You're right where we need to be and damned if any of us can figure out where that is."

"How do you think I feel?" she responded bitterly. "I could be anywhere in the fourth quadrant and I'll probably never leave it unless you guys can figure out where I'm at."

Sean dropped his gaze, but forced it back up a moment later. "I know. We'll find you, Fall. I promise."

The woman managed a smile as the others added their own quiet reassurances to Sean's. "I know you will. I wouldn't have agreed to this otherwise. Just hurry, okay? I'm going crazy having to perform all these experiments."

The female Draconis spoke, "Have any clearer an idea about what exactly they're doing?"

"Not really. As I said - I'm just a lackey. Of course most of it is obviously with refining them, much as the Coni themselves want to do. With the obvious exception that whatever is going on here won't benefit the Coni exclusively, if at all." Fall bit at her lower lip, pensive. "There seems to be a particular emphasis on Draconis-human pairings."

"Really?" Sean called up her latest report, "There's no mention of that here."

"I wasn't entirely certain of it when I made that report. But something just a few hours ago has me almost completely convinced."

Sean leaned forward, suddenly intent. Behind him he heard Mendel's typing cease. "Go on."

"As you already know, we have twenty four 'specimens' in the lab. What you don't know, because I never deemed it relevant before, is that the mates are put to sleep and kept close enough that the Draconis aren't affected by the absence of their mates. We want them at full strength and health, you see. The mates are studied almost as often as the Draconis themselves."

"You have no idea why?"

"None. I can't tell what they're looking for. Only that they're extremely interested in those experiments. Crossbreeds like Mendel are especially of interest." Fall paused, as her words slowly sank into the rest of the assembled. "So…be careful Sean. And Mendel, I know he must be nearby." Fall stared at Sean, fear and frustration in her face. "I have no doubt that whatever they're doing to obtain specimens, you're somewhere on that list. A magics capable human would, no doubt, intrigue them greatly."

"I agree," Summer interjected. "From what she's just said and what we already know - you two are prime candidates for capture. Especially as no one would care or even know if two criminals were kidnapped and taken to a lab for experimentation."

"Duly noted," Sean said heavily. "I suggest we end this meeting, unless anyone has anything further to add."

The four all replied with negatives, and one by one their screens blinked out. At last only the older, female Draconis remained. "Contact me in a few days, we can have a less serious chat."

Mendel came up behind Sean, a hand resting lightly on his shoulder. "Of course. Take care, all right?"

"Be especially cautious," she replied. "Never mind the fact that this whole operation will crumble without the two of you, I don't want the two of you to become lab animals."

"We'll be careful, Spring." Sean persisted in using her codename. "Now go, you must be busy this time of day."

"Farewell."

Sean sat back in his seat with a groan, nuzzling into the comforting hand that moved to stroke his cheek. "Sometimes I feel like I have no idea what's going on. What possible benefit could Draconis have for humans?"

Mendel shrugged, "I could not tell you. Perhaps if we knew that we would be closer to ending our problems."

"Well…" Sean fell silent a moment, searching for what to day. "We know that someone in the IG is behind all of this. Probably several someones in the IG. Let's leave it to Winter to figure it out. Once we know what's going on with the IG, our lives will be a lot easier. In the meantime we can keep feeding your mother information to hopefully sway opinion on Coni. If we can win the Coni over, the war is half won." He tilted his head back to grin teasingly at his lover, "After all, if your owners decide to approve of you, who's to say otherwise?"

"You are not amusing," Mendel tugged lightly at his hair. "The Coni own us about as much as they own the air they breathe."

Sean grinned, "Meaning they'll die with you gone?"

"No, that would be you. You know what I mean."

Twisting in his seat and rising to his knees in the chair, Sean wrapped his arms around Mendel's neck and drug the Draconis close for a kiss. "Mmm, I don't suppose we can dodge work for a bit."

"No," Mendel laughed. "Always trying to get out of work, aren't you?"

"Can't help it. Cyan's habits die hard." Sean looked briefly sad.

"You miss them a lot. I --"

Sean cut him off before he could complete his sentence. "I'm not going to lie. I miss home a lot. Especially Cyan, and my mother. I can only imagine how upset she must be. And I guarantee the minute Cy sees me, I'm either going to get punched or kicked. Possibly both." He pulled away to climb out of his chair, then pulled the Draconis close again. "But I'd rather be here with you, doing work that at times seems futile, than be back home."

Mendel frowned at him.

"Don't give me that 'it's all my fault, you never had a choice' look." Sean kissed him softly. "I'm happier now than I ever was before. So stop moping and distracting me and let me get back to work."

In reply, Mendel bit down on the lip nibbling at his own, earning a startled yelp from the shorter man. "Who's distracting whom? Get back to those reports, I know you have not read them all. And we've got more coming in from other quarters as we speak. There is also the conference later today, and we still have to send mother information to bolster her arguments…"

"Okay, okay." Sean glared half-heartedly at him before returning to his seat and calling up the reports and recording he had yet to go over. Mendel moved back to his own desk and the two fell back into their comfortable silence as they worked.

 

Chapter Three

Merchant class star ship 00061225, the Dragonfly

"There," Cyan said, restoring his pointcard to his wallet. "One million points. It'll be your fault if it gets traced."

"Please, we're pirates," Einn grinned. "No one'll know a thing." Einn nodded from his seat overlooking the rest of the bridge. "Gents, say hello to our special guest - Cyan McCracken."

The crew just looked at him. There were roughly fifty pirates to Einn's crew, and ten of them maintained the bridge. Besides Cyan and Einn there were seven humans, one other Fornarian, a Sardoran - Cyan tried not to wince - and an almost insect-like creature bent over the navi-coms. Of the humans, four probably came from his own quadrant, the others had the reddish coloring of the first quad.

"Captain," the second-in-command spoke up, a human with the reddish skin of the first quadrant, his brown hair short and spiky, the In-Specs on his face hiding his green eyes. "What's going on here?"

"Mr. McCracken is paying us to escort him under greatest secrecy to Kreska." Einn looked at his second, "Do you have a problem with that, Mr. Faller?"

"Yes," he replied bluntly. "We're pirates, not a transport service. Why does he need us to transport him?"

"We're getting a million points for it. That should be the end of the matter for you," Einn replied with finality.

"Yes, sir." Faller grumbled. He looked at Cyan, "So what do you do for a living that you can just throw us a million points?"

Cyan grinned, "I gott'em at Rehab." He laughed as every head on the bridge turned to glare at him. Prisoners were 'in' Rehab, Guards were 'at.'

Einn whistled, "You're bolder than I thought. Or maybe dumber." He looked up at Cyan through his lashes, "And here I thought you got the money from your parents. You're just a Rehabilitator." He motioned to his men "You're probably not going to be well liked now. More than a few of us have comrades undergoing Rehabilitation."

"Not on my watch, unless they're particularly bloodthirsty."

Another whistle, "Sector Six, eh? My, my, what a specimen you are. And here I was thinking you were just a lazy Civi who happened to be good with a Stunner."

"Speaking of which," Cyan said, "Could I have it back? It's custom made, I'd hate to lose it."

"Of course. You'll probably need it against some of my crew." Einn winked, "Though you can always come to me for protection."

"I told you no already," Cyan said with a laugh.

"We'll see." Einn stood, suddenly all business. "Faller, find McCracken's weapon and see that a room is prepared. Then let's get down to business; I want to sell our haul as quickly as possible, and we need to figure out the best route to Kreska."

"Aye, Captain," Faller said with resignation before signaling that Cyan should follow him.

In short order Cyan was alone in a small cabin, and he set his bags down with a faint thump before stretching out on the narrow bed with a soft sigh. "What are you doing?" he asked aloud. "If anyone figures out what you're playing out, you're going to wind up in Rehab when this is over."

Cyan turned on his side, tucking his arms under his head and closing his eyes. His thoughts drifted, from home to Alice to Sean to Einn, landing eventually on the one person he'd not thought about in years - his brother.

Thirteen. He'd been thirteen when his parents were assassinated at the annual Eternity Ball. Just three years too young to be allowed to attend it himself. His brother had been sixteen, and not once had he ceased bragging about how he was going and Cyan wasn't.

He could still remember the smell of his mother's perfume, how it surrounded him in a soft, scented cloud when she'd hugged him goodbye that night. He'd always loved it, that scent she only wore on special occasions. These days he couldn't stand the smell of violets, but he remembered when he'd loved it.

And his father, so happy and proud and excited that things were going so well, that his policies were going through and that he would likely be promoted to Grand Chancellor by the time of the next Eternity Ball. His parting words to Cyan were for him to have fun, with adamant orders not to sulk because he couldn't go. And Cyan had nodded and obeyed as best he could, sulking occasionally but mostly having fun playing his games.

His brother had been sulking over the mostly faded bruise Cyan had given him a few days before for being an obnoxious braggart. He and Cyan hadn't exchanged goodbyes; it had never been their style. Even at the end, when Cyan left, they hadn't said goodbye.

They'd been killed by long range Stunners, altered much as Cyan's currently was. Stunners were precisely that - they typically shocked their victims into a state of immobility. Standard stunners ranged from a mild 'sting' to a hit strong enough to knock you out, typically totaling five different levels of shock.

Cyan's was more powerful than that. The third level was enough to knock a target out cold, and it ranged up three extra notches - the last enough to kill a person. It had taken three years for him to acquire the licenses and permits to carry such a weapon, and that only because he was a Rehab Guard. No civilian could normally obtain such a powerful weapon. The long-range stunners used on his parents would not have been sold even to a Zero Class Guard.

Moreover, they never should have been permitted anywhere near the Palace of Eternity. Which meant that one of his parents' peers must have had a hand in it. But no one had ever been able to learn anything conclusive, and after a while the cases had been given up for lost.

Except by Jade.

The two had disagreed heatedly on the matter of revenge. Jade wanted revenge, badly.

So Jade went the route of their father; only twenty-six and he had already been appointed Lower Chancellor of the Fourth Quadrant. In only a few more years he would undoubtedly be right where their father was when he was killed - High Chancellor. What he was up to, Cyan didn't know. He preferred it.

Cyan had opted out of revenge and left home, severing any connection between them. They'd not said goodbye when he left.

Turning onto his other side, Cyan forced away the unhappy thoughts. They'd each made their choices, and lived with them. He was happy; his parents would have to be content with that.

He only hoped that whatever Jade was up to, it wouldn't hurt too many people.

And he was sinking into gloom again. Standing, Cyan stretched and combed his fingers through his short hair. "Let's go exploring; there's got to be something I can do on this ship. Sitting still is going to drive me crazy."

Several minutes exploration later resulted in little more than a few dark glances and a growing need to locate the cafeteria. The ship was notably lacking in markers - probably to confuse possible intruders. Well, he was confused so the idea was clearly a sound one.

"Maybe I should just go back to my room…" On a whim he opened the next door he came across - and paused.

It was an exercise chamber. All the equipment had been stored, leaving the large floor open to the man currently shadow-boxing his way back and forth across it.

Faller.

Cyan stepped inside, intrigued. It wasn't often he came across someone who could fight with more than a Stunner or some other firearm. But Faller moved like it came as easily as breathing, swinging and kicking with fluidity enough to make water look stiff.

The first mate must have caught movement at the edge of his vision, because he abruptly halted and turned toward Cyan. "What do you want?"

"You look like you almost know what you're doing," Cyan said with a taunting grin. "Someone teach you a few parlor tricks?"

Faller snorted, raking his hair from his narrowed eyes. "I suppose you think you know better, Rehabber?"

"Please. I deal with worse than you on an hourly basis."

That earned him a sneer, "Yeah, but I'm not wearing a numbing collar or chains. And if you didn't notice, Rehab, you're missing all your pretty toys and keys. You can't just knock me out and lock me up."

"Is that a challenge?" Cyan asked lazily, though his eyes were bright with anticipation.

"You tell me, Rehab. You're the one that started this."

"Then most definitely yes. If you're up for it."

Faller grinned ferociously. "Oh, I'm up for it. Not often I get the chance to knock around a Rehabber. Get out here on the floor where I can kick you."

"We'll see who kicks who."

*~*~*~*

Cyan's chest rose and fell in time with his panting. He grinned across the long exercise chamber at Faller. Sweat soaked his thin black tank top, making it cling to his chest. "Not too shabby, I guess. You seem a little slow this morning."

Faller made a face and dropped his defensive stance. "That's enough for one day. I've got work to do."

"Yeah, yeah." Cyan relaxed his own stance and caught the towel thrown his way. It was his fifth day aboard the Dragonfly, and he and Faller - Lark Faller - had been sparring since Cyan's stumbling across the exercise chamber during his explorations the first day.

Einn snickered from where he stood on the side, "I've never had so much fun watching two men try to kill each other. It would probably be better if the two of you would learn to get along - but don't force it on my account."

His first mate didn't deign to answer, merely shot him a disgusted look before exiting the chamber.

The Captain sauntered lazily across the chamber to join Cyan, "What did I do with my mornings before you were around to harass my first mate. And you do it half naked, too. What ever did I do before you?"

Cyan rolled his eyes, "Well, the last day you lived without me was all of five days ago. I'm sure you can remember back that far, if you really try."

Einn made a show of struggling to summon the memories. "Nope, can't recall. Maybe I'll have better luck when your half-naked self leaves the room."

"Then I'll be happy to oblige," Cyan said, torn between amusement and exasperation.

"Don't hurry on my account."

"Oh, no. It's entirely on my own account, I assure you."

Einn laughed and followed him out of the room and through passageways back toward Cyan's room. "Are you always this standoffish when someone expresses an interest?"

"Only when I'm on business," Cyan slid him a sideways glance. "And I don't do Fornarians."

"Hmph. Just because you had one bad relationship--"

"That's the problem." Cyan stopped, humor fading. "I don't do flings."

Comprehension filled Einn's face, followed by disappointment. "That's a pity. I always forget you humans have a thing for permanency."

"Exactly." Cyan opened his door, pausing at the threshold. "Besides, Captain, when this is all over I go back to being a Guard. And Guards don't date criminals."

Einn shrugged, "Such a waste, you." His mischievous grin returned, "But I'm not giving up quite yet. Fornarians know stubbornness better than anyone. We've got a ways yet to go before we reach Kreska. We'll just see what happens."

With a sigh, Cyan stepped into his room and closed the door. Stripping off his pants, he dropped them along with his towel to the floor.

He stood in the shower, unmoving, for several minutes before finally moving mechanically to clean up.

Nearly a week into his strange trip and not much had really happened. The crew didn't like him, but he managed. He wondered if his sparring with Faller had something to do with that.

That and the Captain was "smitten" with him.

It really was too bad that Einn was a criminal, and Fornarian, and that he was technically on 'business.'

And he wasn't going to go there, not tonight.

Not ever.

Because Alice was sick and he had to reach Sean and now was most definitely not the time to admire the way Einn laughed, like it was the most natural sound for the Fornarian to make. Or the way he moved, slow and seemingly lazy - much in the way a cat often appeared lazy.

Well, it didn't matter. Sparring matches and food were about the only reasons he left his room. Otherwise he spent his time resting, reading, worrying and plotting out exactly how he was going to greet Sean when he finally saw the bastard.

Kicking was tempting, but he thought he might just stick with a good old-fashioned right hook.

He just hoped Alice was doing all right. He'd been sorely tempted of late to call her, check on her…but it was simply too risky. There was no choice but to believe she was managing, patiently waiting for her son to return home.

"I'm not taking any more damned vacations," he muttered to himself as he dressed and sat down in a chair to eat the breakfast that someone had left for him, most likely in the hopes that he'd stay the hell out of the cafeteria.

"Alice sick, Sean long gone, the crew hates me and the Captain likes me," he stared miserably into his oatmeal. "No more fucking vacations."

 

Chapter Four

Planet 111819111-3554 (moon of Kreska), private settlement

Sean couldn't sleep. Sighing in defeat he threw back the blankets and climbed carefully out of bed.

He immediately felt cold, and for a moment almost went back to bed - and Mendel, who murmured in his sleep a moment before settling back down. But Sean wasn't tired, and he knew if he stayed his restlessness would wake his lover. So pulling on a sweater he wrapped the blankets back up around Mendel, kissed him softly, then went in search of something hot to drink.

A cup of tea in hand, he made his way to the office, clicking on his computer to do some more reading. Every sound invisible by day suddenly seemed overloud, and for a moment he worried Mendel would wake - then rolled his eyes and set to reading.

When the light for incoming calls flashed, he unthinkingly hit the button to take it, rather than letting the caller leave a message. He wasn't sure who was more startled - him or her. "Jundel."

"Sean," the green Draconis from the meeting a few days ago smiled at him. "I wasn't expecting anyone to be up at this hour."

He smiled, "I wasn't expecting to be up. Is there a problem?"

"Only the usual," Jundel said tiredly. "There is some good news, in that I might have swayed a few more Coni to our side." She shrugged, "It's hard, when the race that created you sees you only as a tool. I'll be honest and say that sometimes I wonder if we'll ever succeed." Her smile returned, "But I know we will; and seeing how hard you and Mennie work always renews my determination."

"Mendel is certainly to be admired but I've barely been doing this a Turn. It's a wonder everyone trusts me as much as they do."

"Not really. Ignoring the fact that matches have every reason to see the Draconis are well treated; anyone that sees the two of you together for more than five minutes knows you'd never do anything to hurt Mennie. And he has been devoted to our cause so long I can hardly remember when he wasn't."

Sean flushed, discomfited by her words.

Jundel laughed. "For all that I hate what led to it, I am happy he finally found you - and I don't just mean his match."

"I know," Sean said softly. "I'm glad he found me too."

Jundel sighed softly, "If his father had cared half as much for the two of us…"

"I wish he had, Jun."

"That makes three of us, I'm sure." She replied. "Mennie always tried so hard to get along with his father, but it just never worked. His father was too selfish and too foolish - and fool me for not realizing it sooner than I did." She smiled self-deprecatingly. "Perhaps if I had things would not have turned out as they did."

"And you wouldn't have had Mendel."

"That is very true. Is he all right? He would not tell me if he was doing poorly, but I know how upset he must still be…" she looked sad. "I don't think he knows how to handle the fact that he killed him."

Sean shook his head, "He never talks about it. I've tried a few times, but he either gets angry or gets depressed and it never goes anywhere. And I don't feel like I quite have the right to pry anyway." He grinned briefly, "We didn't exactly get together under the most normal circumstances, and all this espionage and hiding from authorities doesn't make for the best of dates."

"All things considered, Sean, I would say you're both doing splendidly. Don't fret about it too much - things will manage to work themselves out in their own time."

"Hopefully."

"They will," Jundel said firmly.

Sean shook his head, "I have my doubts, even if I try to ignore them. No matter what we do Jun, we can't change the fact that Mendel is wanted for murder. That he committed murder. Even if - when - we save the Draconis, I can't undo that fact."

"We'll deal with that when the time comes," Jundel remained firm, though her eyes had dimmed with her own private worries. "It helps none of us to dwell on it. So try harder to ignore your doubts until you can do something about them. There's no use in fretting over what can't be changed."

"You're right," Sean managed a wan smile. "I'll try."

Unspoken went the worries of his own fate. If they were ever caught, they were both going to wind up in a lab - or a grave.

"So what did you call for, Jundel? Certainly not to listen to me fret and whine."

Jundel laughed softly, "Perhaps I did, though I thought I was calling merely to report the limited success of the latest conference - as I mentioned earlier."

"Mmm...all the information we gave you and so little effect was had?" Sean leaned back in his seat, rubbing his forehead. "I guess we just have to keep trying. Are you sure you're okay? I would hate to put you in danger."

"Out of all of us, I am the in the least amount of danger," Jundel regarded him with stern, dark green eyes. "And the risk is worth what we're working toward. At least I am not stuck in a lab somewhere in space with little chance of getting out. I have nothing but respect for Lorraine, for willingly undertaking that task."

"You and me both. I hope we find her soon."

"We will."

"So what problems are you having?"

Jundel shrugged her thin shoulders, the shimmery fabric of her morning gown catching the sunlight peeking through unseen windows. "Only the usual - everyone wants to know my sources, and believe me to be making stuff up because I will not reveal them. Of course they suspect I am communicating with my son, but so far no one has been able to prove it." She smirked, "Benefits of being matched the way I am."

"Be careful."

"Aren't I always?"

"I wonder."

Jundel laughed softly. "You should get back to bed, Sean."

"I agree. I think maybe now I might actually be able to sleep."

"Pleasant dreams, and give my son a kiss for me."

"Gladly. Have a good day, Jundel."

"Farewell for now," Jundel signed off.

Sean returned his empty teacup to their small kitchen, then made his way back to bed.

Mendel murmured noiselessly as he slid back under the blankets and almost immediately moved to cling to him. Sean clung back, eagerly absorbing the heat offered by the sleeping Draconis. He opened his mouth to yawn, and was asleep before he finished.

*~*~*~*

"You look like you did not sleep at all last night."

"I slept for a bit," Sean managed around the toast he was eating. "Eventually."

"Have trouble sleeping again?" Mendel asked. "You should have woken me up."

Sean snorted, "So we could both be tired today, lover? Besides, your mom called with a report and I chatted with her a bit."

"Oh?"

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Sean grinned. "Yes, we talked about you. But it was all nice stuff and no, I'm not telling you."

Mendel ignored him and went back to his computer screens.

"Oh, I'm getting ignored now."

"You are not," Mendel replied without looking up.

"Yes I am. Should I come over there and force you to pay attention to me?"

"No, you should not." Mendel finally glanced at him. "I'm not ignoring you - I just don't want to hear about whatever you two were discussing. I'm sure you were fretting needlessly."

"Never needless, lover."

"Hmph. I'm fine."

"None of us are fine."

Mendel grimaced and went back to work, ignoring Sean's sighs and mutters. Silence fell for a few minutes as Mendel worked and Sean finished his breakfast.

"...Sean..."

"Hmmm?"

"Your friend, back home. His name is Cyan, right?"

Sean blinked. "Yeah..."

"What's his last name?"

"McCracken."

Mendel looked up at him, "This news report from the second quadrant says that a few days ago pirates raided an intergalactic shuttle and took a man hostage to guarantee their escape. Says they wound up kidnapping a Rehab Guard on vacation - Cyan McCracken."

Sean choked on his toast, and spent the next minute or two struggling to regain his breath before he finally spoke. "He's been kidnapped? How? What the hell?"

Shrugging, Mendel punched a few keys to transfer the report to Sean's computer. "It just says that at the end of their raid - during which they focused mostly on money, jewelry, the usual really - they took Cyan hostage. So far no word has been received by anyone as to the hostage. It's like they took him and ran.

"That's rather odd." Sean bit his lip, reading and rereading the short report. "What do they want with him? What was the ship? Any clues as to which pirate band did it?"

Mendel was silent for a few minutes while he searched for the answers to Sean's questions, "No one saw the ship itself, which is fairly standard. But pirate ships seen in that area before include the Sylvius, the Gloom, and the Dragonfly. No guarantees, but it's possible he's on any one of those three ships.

"Right...and there's been no sign that they've released him?" Sean spoke in a voice that fell just short of panic. "Do you suppose..."

Mendel didn't reply immediately, instead moving to embrace him. "Don't get upset before you have a reason to be. He's probably fine - murder is a charge most pirates don't want to add to their lists. It's just too messy. Is there any other reason they might be holding him?"

In Mendel's arms, Sean suddenly went still. "Oh shit...what if they found out?" he stared up, eyes wide.

Mendel was confused, "Found out what?"

"Do you know the name Alexander? Rufus Alexander?"

"Yes…" Mendel said slowly. "It's rather hard not to know the name of the assassinated High Chancellor."

"He and his wife had two sons. Jade was the elder…Cyan the younger."

"Oh. That could be a problem."

Sean gave him a look, "You think?" He bit his lip, fretting. "I wonder what they'll do - did they kidnap him on purpose, or was it by pure chance? And what the hell was he doing on a star hopper anyway? Fuck."

"I…" Mendel looked oddly lost. "Should we send someone to investigate?"

"I don't know," Sean looked up at him. "I can't use our resources for personal measure. But I can't - what if -" he dropped into his seat with a strange sort of strangled moan.

Mendel held him close, stroking his hair as he thought. He frowned at his computers, debating options. Murmuring reassurances he left Sean to return to his own desk, punching in a long string of numbers.

A screen flashed into view in the space above his desk. He waited in tense silence for several long minutes, until finally the screen activated on the other end, and a familiar pale face and white-blonde hair appeared. "Winter."

"Is something wrong?"

"Well…it doesn't pertain to the mission exactly."

Winter frowned, puzzled. "Just explain."

"The recent kidnapping by pirates."

"You mean the ones which took Lord Alexander's brother hostage."

Mendel was startled, "How did you know he was Lord Alexander's brother?"

"Maybe most of the world doesn't know who Cyan is, but we here have to know such things. And come now, the Infinitum knows everything."

"Right," Mendel said. "Anyway - he's a close friend of Sean's."

Winter nodded, suddenly comprehending. "Of course. I'll see what I can do. I actually just received word of it myself - I was on my way to inform Lord Alexander now. I'll let you know what else we learn, and send what information we have your way."

"Thank you, Winter."

"No thanks are necessary. I'll do what I can, little though it may be, to see that he's returned safely," the screen went dark before Mendel had a chance to reply.

"Thank you, Mendel."

"Are you feeling better?"

Sean nodded, "I guess I really wasn't at my best, was I? But I don't like it…how in the hell did Cyan manage to get taken hostage? He taught me how to fight - I've never seen anyone beat him, armed or unarmed. Unless they somehow managed to force his hand - hard to do in a ship that size - they never could have done it. There are better hostages to take than Cyan." His brow furrowed, as he continued his train of thought. "Pirates typically take women, or older children. People that aren't as likely to be capable of fighting back. Not men like Cyan."

Mendel shrugged, "I guess we will see. Perhaps he tried to interfere?"

"It's certainly possible," Sean said. "I wish I could do something. I don't like just sitting here hiding all the time."

"We won't be here forever," Mendel said reassuringly. "One way or another, I get the feeling we'll eventually be on the move again. Let us hope it's for positive reasons."

"Right," Sean took a deep breath, and his usual calm focus descended. "I guess we'd better get back to working toward those positive reasons. Keep me posted on Cy."

"Of course."

Sean smiled at him, "Thanks, lover."

Chapter Five

Merchant class star ship 00061225, the Dragonfly

"This is a bad idea, Captain."

Einn didn't bother to look up from the papers he was reading, "So you've said, Lark. Over and over and over again."

"It bears repeating!" Faller snapped. "Just because you've got your balls on the man doesn't mean it's a good idea to be carting him all around the stars."

Standing, Einn narrowed his eyes as he glared back. "Watch it. I might have a personal interest, but I'm not going to put it before my crew and ship. I'm far more interested in the million points he just tossed us. Unless you want to remain the tool of that IG scum."

"You know I don't," Faller grit his teeth. "But I don't think kidnapping Cyan Alexander is going to help us at all."

Einn started, "How the hell did you know?"

"I'm not stupid," was all Faller said. "It's in my best interests - the crew's best interests - to know who exactly can afford to hire us to kidnap him."

In a flash, Einn had reached across his desk to fist his hand in Faller's shirt, dragging the man roughly across the desk. "You better hope to whatever gods you believe in that you're not playing more than one side. Did you contact him?"

Faller just glared mutinously. "Let me go, Captain. I haven't told anyone anything. This is your idiotic game to play. I'm just letting you know that it's a bad idea. Beyond that, your crew doesn't like playing host to a fucking Rehabber." He brushed himself off as Einn finally let him go. "I would almost say it's better to just blow off our stops and light to Kreska, then double back."

"That'll look suspicious," Einn dropped back into his seat, expression still pissed. "So far our esteemed 'boss' hasn't seen fit to contact me. And I don't plan on contacting him." He glanced at Faller, "He probably thinks we either fucked up or are trying to mess with him. Either way, I'm sure we'll be getting bitched at shortly. All the more reason we should just stay our course - first we dispose of the haul, then the drop off, then we meander our way to Kreska."

"Fine." Faller turned to leave, "Just make sure you don't get too distracted. Things fall apart when the Captain stops doing his job."

"And when the hell have I ever failed to do my job because of a lover or possible lover? I don't think I'm the one that we need to worry about."

Faller whipped around, "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

"It means exactly what you think it means. Unless you always spar with someone who represents a group you've spent a lifetime hating. Don't know what to do with one who turns out not to be a cretin?"

"You're pulling things out of the air, Einn." Faller turned away in disgust, once more attempting to leave. "Maybe I'm just tired of fighting myself. Stars know the rest of you can't fight worth shit without some sort of firearm or magics."

Einn laughed, "Yeah, yeah. Why am I not surprised it's two humans who are obsessed with beating each other for no other reason than to beat each other? Humans make no sense."

"Just because you're too frail to take a beating doesn't mean the rest of us are strange."

"Frail? Che - try and break me, go ahead. I guarantee falling off a cliff is a lot more painful than anything you can muster."

Faller snorted, opening the door and stepping outside. "We'll just see sometime, Captain. Finish reading those inventory lists before we arrive at Bangkok."

"Just who exactly is the captain here?" Einn grumbled as he reached for the papers he'd tossed aside earlier.

An hour or so later, notes and signature given to the list, he rose and stretched and went in search of his first mate once more. Leisurely he made his way to the bridge.

"Faller, here are the reports." He paused, taking in the displeasure on the faces of his crew. He looked to Faller, "What's wrong?"

"We were just about to call you," his first mate replied. "We might have some minor trouble coming up."

"Oh?" Einn frowned as he moved to take his seat overlooking the bridge. He looked briefly at Cyan, who stood quietly nearby, asking silently why he was on the bridge. Usually the Guard kept to his room and the exercise chamber.

Cyan shrugged, "I was bored. Thought I'd find someone to talk to."

"Mmm…" Einn replied before shifting all of his attention to the problem at hand. "So what are the details, Faller?"

"There's a merchant-class vessel about thirty clicks away. They say they're having engine trouble and require assistance. I told them I was awaiting orders from you before responding. Seems reasonable enough, but…"

"But."

"We're only about seventy two hours from Bangkok. An emergency ping should have been able to reach the planet…they say their equipment is too old for a ping that strong, which is feasible. It's an older model ship," Faller shrugged, "and often no one wants to waste money on equipment they don't think they'll ever have to use."

"Mmm…"

"You think it's a trap?" Cyan asked. "But why would anyone be here searching for you?"

"They're not searching for us," Einn corrected. "They're searching for ships to raid. They're pirates. And they don't recognize us as the same." He and his crew grinned, "Which means we're doing all right, aren't we men?"

Cyan ignored the gloating, "I though pirates attacked larger vessels. What's the point in attacking another merchant-class ship?"

Faller spoke before Einn could, "I don't think how we operate is any of your business, Rehabber."

"Maybe I can help."

"What could you possibly do to help us?"

Cyan frowned, "In case you've forgotten, I've at least as much interest as the rest of you in making sure we complete the journey. And I have knowledge and the like that you don't."

"Such as?"

"Such as the codes and clearances you need to escape suspicion and attack."

Einn quirked a brow at that, "What do you mean?" He motioned Faller to silence, "But first, to answer your earlier question. We're traveling as actual merchants; most of the goods on our ship are just for show. So if we're stopped and inspected - no one is the wiser. It's a fairly common way of transporting our stolen goods."

"As to the ship out there - that's a rather common trick with vessels like ours. As Faller said, the ship's story is plausible - it's genuinely happened. And when an honest, upstanding merchant such as we're pretending to be stops to help the unfortunates it's rather an easy raid to make. Much easier than attacking the sorts of vessels we attack. Often merchants double as private transports for goods, hired by wealthy clients who don't want to shell out twice that for an armed ship of their own."

"I see. But can't you just somehow signal that you're pirates yourselves?"

"No," Faller answered sourly, obviously angry with Einn. "Because they could just as easily be authorities out for a day of pirate fishing. Which is our main concern. If we just ignore them, either they're pirates and they'll attack us anyway, or they're authorities who will be immediately suspicious."

"So how do normal pirates deal with such a dilemma?"

"They travel well armed," Einn said dryly. "There's no real good way to avoid this kind of trap once the distress call reaches you."

Cyan grinned, "So all you need is a good reason for not stopping, right? Something that would warn off pirates and authorities alike?"

"Yes…" Einn said. He and Faller both eyed Cyan, frowning. "What are you thinking?"

"Well - Faller hasn't given any reply yet. I came up here just a few minutes before all this started. So - I had an idea."

"Which would be?"

"Tell them that you can't stop because you're on a priority mission, on route to 3175, Facility 3.5, Priority Code 4114-7518." He laughed at the confusion on the faces in the room.

"Mind explaining what you want us to say. I'm not familiar with any of those numbers except 3175 - that's the small Rehab center in this area.

Cyan smirked, "Facility 3.5 is a lot like 6.0 on my Rehab. The code means you're transporting a particularly dangerous criminal - and it's not a code that just anyone would know or use carelessly."

"That'll keep pirates and authorities from us?" Faller asked.

Einn was looking pleased, "Yeah, it will. Because authorities will recognize the codes and let us pass. Pirates will at least recognize the 3175, like we did, and most likely opt not to mess with us on the chance that authorities are aboard." He motioned to Faller. "Do it."

"Aye, Captain." Faller grumbled and then hit a button on the consul he stood beside. "This is the Serpent, Crystal do you read?"

"This is Crystal," a nasally voice responded. "You're nearly in range, Serpent. Care to give us a hand?"

"That's a negative, Crystal. We're currently on a priority mission en route to 3175, Facility 3.5. Priority Code 4114-7518. We are unable to come to your assistance."

"Understood, Serpent."

"We'll send help once we've landed."

A slight pause, as if the other ship had not expected the offer. "That would be appreciated, Serpent."

"Understood. Over and out."

Einn exchanged a look with his first mate, "Keep alert until we're well away."

"Aye, Captain." Faller turned away to give orders to the bridge.

Reaching out a long, thin arm, Einn latched onto Cyan's wrist before he could think to move away. In one swift, smooth motion he jerked the Guard down until he was half sprawled across Einn's chair. He used his free hand to hold Cyan's head in place, and leaned in to kiss him hard, briefly, before letting go and laughing at the sputtered curses that resulted. "Thanks for the help, Rehabber. Ever consider taking up piracy?" Einn winked, "I could offer you a position."

"I want nothing to do with any position you're interested in offering me."

Einn just laughed harder, ignoring the glares shot him by both Cyan and Faller.

Cyan looked to Faller, "You called this ship the Serpent. I thought this was the Dragonfly?"

Faller regarded him in silence a moment. "We have five different 'personae' for our ship. The Dragonfly is its real name, but thanks to certain members of our crew, we can make it look like any of four other ships, all of them registered as legitimate merchant or freelance vessels. Seldom will you actually see us fly as the Dragonfly.

"I see. That's pretty impressive. Is it a common practice with pirates?"

The red-skinned human shrugged off the compliment. "No. It's too expensive to create the type of high-quality holo-skins we need to generate four different kinds of ships."

"So how do you afford it?"

"Now, now," Einn interrupted. "We're already telling a Rehabber far more than we should. Suffice to say we're damn good at what we do."

"Right," Cyan said. He looked at Einn, "You know I wouldn't ever say a word about any of this. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. I'll be in bigger trouble than you if anyone finds out I paid pirates to kidnap me and carry me to quadrant three."

"All the same," Einn said. "You already know plenty to hurt us, and one never knows what will drive a person to reveal his secrets." He stood, running his fingers through Cyan's hair before he moved away. "Though if you ask real nicely, I would be tempted."

Cyan rolled his eyes, "I'm going back to my room."

"Oh, good. I was just leaving, I'll escort you." Einn grinned and dropped his arm around his shoulders, guiding him out of the room. "You're in charge, Faller. Call me immediately if trouble arises."

"Aye, Captain." Faller said flatly, taking the seat Einn had just vacated. He watched them depart with a carefully blank expression, then turned his attention to running the bridge.

"Get your arm off me," Cyan said as they walked through the halls.

"No."

Cyan came to a sudden halt and jerked away. "What are you playing at?"

"Isn't it obvious by this point?"

"All too obvious, and I'm getting sick of telling you no."

"Good, because I'm getting sick of hearing it. Why don't you try 'yes' instead."

"No." Annoyance appeared on Cyan's face. "Maybe this whole venture is just a game to you, but it's not to me. I have bigger things to worry about right now - I've no time for a relationship - fling or otherwise. And I'm not sure I'd be interested anyway."

Einn looked torn between amusement and irritation. "That was harsh."

"It was true. What am I supposed to think? Do you always go after people you barely know like this? It's obnoxious."

"I don't have a lot of free time for long, drawn out games. If I want to get anywhere, it's best to just skip them. That doesn't mean my interest is any less sincere."

Cyan scoffed, "Whatever. I fail to see what you find interesting - besides possibly the money."

"Oh, make no mistake. I like the money fine. But I'm more interested in a Guard who'd blithely break the law and hand over large sums of money to pirates just for transport to a rather boring planet."

"Che," Cyan replied. "I think you just jump at anything new."

"Hardly. I'm a pirate; we're notoriously picky about everything. No point in going after the cheap stuff - only the best will do."

Cyan rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Do you really find me that unappealing?" Einn asked tiredly. "I don't see what you're so hung up about."

"I don't date criminals, and I don't do flings."

"And no Fornarians, because of the whole fling thing." Einn was unimpressed. "I'm not sure where a Rehabber gets off thinking he can demand permanency from anyone."

Cyan narrowed his eyes, "What is that supposed to mean?"

Einn stared back, "Try and tell me it isn't true. Guards are even harder to date than star travelers. At least you might see us once in a while. You damn Rehabbers spend every waking moment on that stupid planet. One piece of every Term you leave it for more than a day or two?"

"You've dated a Guard before."

"No," Einn replied. "But a friend did - a non-criminal friend. It wasn't a very fun relationship, in the end. So I really don't know where you get off being all high and fucking mighty."

"I don't really care what you think. I don't do flings, even if a relationship is hard to manage." Cyan turned away, "And really, you keep overlooking the fact that I'm a Guard and you're a pirate. Maybe right here and now it doesn't matter, but it will later." He turned to look over his shoulder when Einn grabbed his arm, unresisting but with a warning glint in his eye. "There's no point in starting something that's only going to end in a very short time."

Einn relaxed his grip some, but didn't let go. "Don't you know how to play, Rehab?"

"My name is not Rehab," Cyan snapped. "Use my name or stop speaking to me."

That made the captain pause. "I wasn't aware we were on a first name basis. Fine. Cyan - don't you play?"

"No, I don't."

"That's a pity. Because this is the perfect chance, wouldn't you say?"

"I don't follow."

Einn tugged him a bit closer, quietly pleased when Cyan didn't protest but went along with it. "So in the end I'm a pirate, and you're a guard. But right now we're neither of those. You're just a passenger; I'm just the Captain. And all those problems you keep fretting about can't be taken care of until you reach Kreska. Instead of moping and hiding and picking fights with Faller - okay, keep picking fights with Faller - why not try having some fun? It won't kill you or anyone else."

Cyan shook his head and pulled away. "No," he said. "I won't take risks like that."

"Risks like what?"

"Like getting attached. Maybe it's easy for you to just brush me aside and forget when this is all over, but it's not that easy for me. I think I'll just stay in my cabin. Good day, Captain."

Einn watched him go in silence, then turned and stalked to his own quarters.

 

Chapter Six

Planet 0000000 (zero), the Palace of Eternity

Finely manicured nails tapped out a rhythmic pattern on an expensive, natural wood desk. The nails were painted a pale mint green, matching perfectly the subdued, abstract patterning on his pale and dark mint mandarin-style jacket. The frogs and collar were dark gold, and a pale mint ribbon secured the end of his long, gold-brown hair, woven into an intricate braid. A small gold hoop decorated each ear, a gold signet ring set with the infinity symbol on his right ring finger his only other piece of jewelry.

His amber eyes were cool but pleasant as he stared at the figure seated on the opposite side of his desk. "I thank the Lady Rosali for her invitation, and am sorry you came all this way for nothing, but I will not be able to attend her fete. I'm afraid my duties keep me quite occupied, especially at this time of year." He smiled at her.

The woman smiled brightly back, standing and brushing out the dark blue velvet of her ornate skirts. "Of course, my Lord. My mistress believed such would be the case, but she wanted to extend the invitation anyway. She looks forward to the next time she is able to see you, and bids you take care of yourself until then."

"Her Ladyship is most gracious. Give her my regards, Lady Pelne."

Dropping a half curtsey, the woman waved him to his seat. "I can see myself out, my Lord. I bid you good day."

"And you, Lady."

Lady Pelne let out a startled cry when, opening the door, she nearly ran into a man who clearly had been about to open it himself. "Ex-excuse me, Lord Kavalerov. I didn't see you there."

"Think nothing of it, my dear," he stepped aside so she could pass, then stepped inside and closed the door behind him.

The man at the desk raised a carefully shaped brow, "Shouldn't you be in session, Pyotr?"

"I finished early today, and I received some intriguing news from my quadrant today."

"Oh? Is something exciting happening in the second today?" the man sounded bored.

Pyotr smoothed his blue and silver robes as he took a seat. Against the dark woods and deep greens that decorated the man's office, his pale hair and features seemed even whiter than usual. He looked like an ice sculpture, "Not exciting, but it may be of some interest to you. It seems pirates recently attacked a star hopper."

"I think I heard about that this morning during breakfast. Took a hostage, didn't they?"

"Yes," Pyotr seemed amused. "Not keeping up with the gossip? That's unlike you."

"I've no interest in the goings-on of pirates, unless they invade the fourth quadrant."

"Not even pirates that take your brother hostage?"

Jade stilled. "My brother? Cyan was taken hostage? That idiot."

"Obviously I've buried the fact that he's your brother. Only myself and a couple of trusted workers know. We're uncertain as to whether or not the pirates took him on purpose, or if it was simply chance."

"Chance, most likely." Jade examined his painted nails. "No one would ever think to connect that weakling with me."

"I see. I guess it's of less interest to you than I thought it would be."

"If they demand a ransom, then it shall become of interest to me."

Pyotr shifted in his seat, "So should I put in extensive effort to tracking him down?"

"Well, we certainly can't just let him be. But I prefer you do only the usual; anything excessive or out of the ordinary will arouse suspicion. I don't want people to wonder why we're going to extremes to find one hostage, and a silly Rehabilitation Guard at that. Especially when the hostages are usually returned more or less unharmed." Jade sneered, "And I sincerely doubt my brother would display any heroics. He's not the most courageous of men."

"No love lost between brothers? How strange, my impression was that your family was a close one."

"My brother was always a fool. He became a great fool after my parents died. He left home and abandoned our name. He is no longer my concern."

Pyotr shrugged, "That is your business. I shall see to the matter of the kidnapping, but do nothing special, as you wish. Shall I keep you informed as to my progress?"

"I suppose so."

"Very well…and might I ask why the Lady Pelne was visiting you? Are you courting her?" Pyotr asked teasingly.

Jade snorted, climbing slowly to his feet. "Ugh, don't even suggest such a thing. I can't stand those simpering women, I don't care how much power and money comes with them."

"So very choosy, you."

"Well, I've certainly earned the right to be, haven't I? Anyway, it's not like I need their money or power and I've no use for them otherwise."

"Most men would disagree."

"Most men are uncreative, which is why they wind up married to simpering misses and running off to hide from them later in life. Spare me."

Pyotr laughed, his pale blue eyes bright with amusement. "Ah, but if you're going to achieve Grand Chancellor, you will have to take a wife eventually."

"Why do you think I'm nice to the Ladies Pelne and Rozali?"

"Rozali, eh? Well, that won't be too bad a catch at all." Pyotr opened the door to leave.

"Here, I will walk with you. I have a meeting to attend in a few more minutes." Jade followed him out the office, and they walked down a hallway of white marble, the walls decorated with handmade tapestries from a planet renowned for such things. "And you will not be the one living with her. But we'll see; I don't have to select a wife yet. It's best not to rush these things."

"That is very true." They fell silent as their walking took them to more crowded areas of the Eternity Palace and they were forced to nod and smile to peers, friends, and subordinates. Pyotr slowed as they reached the grand hallway, the front room of the palace. The floor was made entirely of a special glass, and beneath it was an artificial lake of clear water, hundreds of small, colorful fish and a variety of plants moving and swaying beneath the feet of the thousands who walked through the palace every day. "Take care, my Lord Jade. Are we still dining together this evening?"

"Of course. Your company I find most tolerable. And do keep me informed as to your hostage, it may yet provide me some amusement."

Pyotr laughed softly, "As you wish."

With a nod and sweep of the long, trailing back of his jacket, Jade vanished into the crowd and was shortly taken over by his assistants.

Turning on his own heel, Pyotr made his way politely and carefully through the perpetual crush to his own offices.

"Ah, Pyotr!" A voice much like shattered glass cut through the crush, and Pyotr barely managed to hide a wince.

He smiled as the man with the painful voice approached him. Tall, and so thin he seemed to suffer from an eating disorder - certainly not the case - with hair and face just as thin, Lord Sylvius Li was fortunate that his aptitude for governing far outweighed his looks and voice. "Lord Li."

"None of that, Pyotr." Li smiled, the expression thankfully one that somehow managed to improve his looks. "How many times must I remind you to call me Sylvius? We've been working together for years, surely you remember to use my first name."

"My apologies, Sylvius. I get so caught up in formality I forget I can occasionally drop it."

"Of course, of course. Shouldn't you be in a meeting right now?

Pyotr barely repressed a sigh, "I finished early, and I'm busy with the recent kidnapping by pirates right now anyway."

"How is that case going? I only heard about it a short while ago."

"It's going well enough; nothing of particular note really. You had more trouble with pirates in your quad just a little while ago. I'm sure this victim will turn up in another week or so, a little shaken but otherwise okay."

Sylvius nodded sagely, "Of course, of course. Are you free at the moment, Pyotr? I was coming to ask you to lunch. I wanted to talk to you more about those policy revisions we were discussing earlier in the week."

"Hmm…I don't see why not. Allow me a few minutes to take care of things in my office? I shall meet you at our café at," he glanced at his blue and silver watch, "Half past the hour?" Pyotr smiled, "I will have to soothe the feathers of my assistants, they're quite vexed at how I'm always running off to do things for myself. You know how that is."

"Yes, yes. Quite irritating - but I guess we were all like that at some point, no? It is how we wound up being the troublesome bosses. I will see you shortly, you go soothe your birds."

Laughing, Pyotr nodded and made his way to his office suite. Finally reaching it, he spent several minutes giving tasks to his annoyed staff before they permitted him to close the door to his private office. Locking the door behind him, he ran three separate scans of the room before he was satisfied that it was safe.

Pressing a hidden button in a drawer of his desk, he waited for his call to be received.

A young man with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes greeted him with a smile, setting aside whatever it was he'd been reading. "What's up, Winter?"

"I thought you would like to know that Lord Alexander seems completely unconcerned about his brother's kidnapping."

Sean frowned, "That's not really a surprise. They don't get along at all."

"So I've noticed," Pyotr said dryly. "But my point was simply this - if he believed it to be a problem to himself, he would have shown some interest. But he said himself that most likely the pirates do not know who he is, so most likely it was pure chance that they took him as their hostage. I have no doubt that in short order your friend will reappear on a planet somewhere, more or less unharmed. But I will continue to search, and will keep you informed."

"Thank you, Winter. I appreciate you assisting me with something entirely personal."

"There is no reason to thank me. We are a team; what affects one member affects all of us. If it were me, I would hope you would help me."

"Of course I would."

"Then, as I say, there is no need for thanks." Pyotr smiled, then turned brusque. "Now. I am off to meet with S, hopefully to obtain some useful information. J as always eludes me."

"That comes as no surprise. Do your best Winter, and be careful."

"And you. Farewell." Pyotr turned his screen off and with a tired sigh left to go meet Sylvius for lunch.

 

Chapter Seven

Planet 0315149 (Coni), Private Estate of Grae Drall

"You're a fool, Jundel."

"And you, Yarman, have no room to talk," Jundel replied tartly.

Yarman sniffed. "I fail to see why you are included in these talks. You're nothing but Energy, and seeing as it is-"

"I have every right to attend," Jundel cut him off. Around them the other ministers remained silent. They'd learned long ago to stay out of it when the pompous Coni challenged the highly respected Draconis.

"No, you most certainly do not. How many times must I say it?" Yarman shifted impatiently in his seat. "Energy have no business being present during these discussions. You are not citizens, you are not members of government - even if you are the Match of the Minister of the East - and we're not even certain you can be trusted."

"I've done nothing to bring my integrity into question."

"Oh, really?" Yarman leaned forward, blue-black eyes alight with the fervor of their argument. His hair matched his eyes, and all but glistened with the oil he'd used to slick it back in the current fashion. His dark red jacket and pants clung to him almost too tightly, moving and shifting with every breath he took, bright against his dark skin. "Need I bring up the matter of your son?"

Jundel drew a sharp, angry hiss of breath. "My son is not part of this discussion."

"I think he should be. After all, if he was capable of murder, who's to say that you aren't capable of similar acts?"

"Just what are you implying? My behavior has always been above suspicion. I am not the rude, ill-tempered, conceited boor who attacks a woman every time she opens her mouth to try and ensure that her race is not obliterated!"

Yarman sneered, "You were created by us, you are ours to do with as we see fit. Why you infernal Energies cannot get that through your head is beyond me."

"That's enough, Yarman." The voice that broke into the fight was as mellow as Yarman's was cold.

Jundel let out a soft, soundless sight of relief, relaxing minutely as a warm hand rested comfortingly on her shoulder. "I invited you here to join an informal discussion, not for you to pick another fight the minute I leave the room." His hair was a deep brown, a little too light to be mistaken for black and a few shades darker than his gold brown skin. His own shirt and pants were maroon, and far more relaxed than Yarman's tight ones. Around the large dining table, all but buckling beneath the weight of food, the dark-skinned men and women gathered all wore similar such outfits, an informal version of their government uniforms.

He continued, the mellow tone of his voice hardening. "Moreover, I do not appreciate the continued slandering of my Match. I have warned you before - I will not warn you again."

"I don't care about your favoritism, Grae. You and the rest can say what you like about the Energies--"

"Draconis, Yarman. They have chosen to call themselves Draconis."

"They'll be called whatever we choose to call them. Or are you conveniently forgetting why our ancestors originally created them? To supplement us, not to run amuck and match with anything magics capable."

Grae motioned irritably. "And our ancestors botched things quiet nicely. Face it - we created a race that we cannot control. It's time we let them stand on their own and stopped expecting them to be our Energy."

Another of the gathered ministers tentatively spoke up, "You say that, Grae. But it's really not practical. A race like the Energy have turned out to be will only prove problematic in the end. They match with whatever, they breed, and they have no need to stay on Coni. Our ancestors never should have tampered - it would be best if we simply got rid of them before they get as out of control as the Temperast.

"We are not the Temperast!" Jundel snapped. "Nor am I some mindless slave for you to just talk around. I would appreciate it if you stopped regarding me as such. We deserve to be a free people, and not your cursed Energy!"

"And just what else are you good for?" Yarman asked contemptuously. "In case you hadn't noticed, your whole purpose in life is to be energy. You're designed for it, you're not complete until you find a match."

Jundel rose to her feet, eyes tormented as she leaned toward Yarman over the table. "You think I don't know that? You think that I don't know my life is entirely dependant on the life of someone I have to spend my entire life with, regardless of whether or not I wanted to? That my magics now depend on that person? Always we Draconis are forced to adapt to the life of the one we match with; we're just servants, most of us. You think we relish that? You think the people - outside of the Conis - who are stuck with us appreciate it? It's your damn fault we exist, the least you could do is leave us to form the happiest existence we can. Instead you want to experiment on us, or wipe us out. Just leave us alone." Jerking away from the table, Jundel stalked from the room, silk skirts swirling behind her as she made her way to her bedroom.

Angry, frustrated tears streamed down her cheeks as she dropped heavily into the chair of her vanity table. "Bastards," she muttered. "Just wait until we put all of you in your places. I'll have the satisfaction of seeing my son get the last laugh."

Brushing the tears away, she leaned close to examine her face in the mirror. She grimaced at her reflection, "It's no wonder everyone says your son is just like you, Jun. Mennie definitely got your emotions and temper, the poor thing."

A soft knock broke into her conversation, and she smiled ruefully as Grae appeared in her room. "I'm sorry, Grae. I didn't mean to get so upset."

"You really shouldn't let them get to you."

"I can't help it," Jundel picked up a soft cloth and wiped her tears away. "This old lady is starting to weary of fighting battles that seem hopeless. Most frustrating is that I do not think my son will have a happier life when I am gone. It makes keeping my temper in check difficult."

"I know, Jun…" Grae sat down on a settee nearby, offering her a comforting smile. "If I could get rid of Yarman for you, I would."

"And another would simply appear to take his place." Jundel looked over at him, "Face it. Most of the Conis have never been able to accept us as equals. For generations now they've fought to keep us as mere Energy. And even when we are finally free to prosper as a real race, we will never be equal. Because of how the Conis designed us."

Grae laughed softly, "You needn't hit me with your vehemence. I would give anything to be able to let you go where you will. It is not fair that the bond between us keeps you here."

"I have never minded, Grae," Jundel smiled at him softly, most of her anger fading. "If all Coni were like you, perhaps we would have no reason to complain. You and your wife are my dearest friends. I would not change the situation for the world." She turned back to her mirror and began to remove the elaborate jewels in her ears and hair, "If it's all right with you, I think I'll skip the party tonight. I'm not feeling terribly social right now."

"Of course I don't mind. I wish I wasn't going; it'll be a dreadful snooze without you and Keli to keep me company."

"Your wife will be back soon enough," Jundel laughed. "Then you two can go back to making snotty comments while you dance politely at all your silly functions."

"Oh, good. You can still laugh." Grae sounded genuinely relieved, "I was beginning to think you had forgotten how."

"Nonsense. It's simply that most of the time the company I'm with makes me want to retch rather that chuckle. I'm sure you understand."

"Completely. Certainly tomorrow is going to be no laughing matter. I hope you're still up for it."

"You know me," Jundel winked in her mirror at him. "I'm always up for a fight. And it will be nice to get Yarman on a field where he can't make nasty remarks about Mennie."

Grae frowned, "What exactly are you planning for tomorrow, Jun?"

"More of the same, really. Maybe if I repeat myself often enough, someone will finally hear me." She sighed, "But I've some new stuff to add, as well. And don't even ask, because I'm not going to tell you. Nor am I going to tell you where I get my information."

Holding up his hands in defeat, Grae shook his head. "Wasn't going to. I've learned not to press. I'm only worried about you. You've worked too long and too hard to be caught doing something foolish or desperate now."

"I know. Thank you, Grae." Jundel turned in her seat, skirts swishing faintly. She clasped her hands in her lap, looking tired but dignified. "I don't plan on getting caught at anything. Nor am I going to stop until this entire affair is settled to my satisfaction."

"That still won't bring them back, Jun." Grae said softly.

Jundel blinked her eyes rapidly, "You always go in for the kill, don't you? I know it won't. Even if we're freed, even if we're finally left alone - my son will still be a murderer. And as much as I hate him, I did once love his fool of a father. But yes, I know nothing will change for me when this is over. But it will change for others, and that will have to suffice. Besides…" her face softened. "My son is happier now than he has been in years. That will have to be enough for me."

"I am going to pretend I didn't hear that." Grae rose to his feet and crossed the few steps between them to drop an affectionate kiss on her cheek. "Relax, have something hot to drink, and don't think unhappy thoughts before tomorrow. I command, slave." He winked at her. "Besides, when Keli comes back she'll be dying to tell you all about her trip and we both know how exhausting that can be. Better to rest now while you have the chance."

Jundel laughed and waved him off, "Get back to your guests, and make sure you send them away thoroughly disgruntled."

"It will be my pleasure." With a wave, Grae was gone.

Planet 0315149 (Coni), Hall of the Ministry

The presiding minister - Minister Mueller of the North - rang the bell that summoned the next speaker to the table. Around the table of gathered ministers - including the Ministers of the South, East, West and several of their subordinates - there was almost a collective groan as the Energy/Draconis Jundel of Drall took her seat.

Around the formal table were the Audience, several rows of seats lofted above the floor where the Ministry debated policies, laws and other such matters. Very few were open to the public; even this current debate was open only to a select few. But every chair was taken, occupied by Coni, Draconis, and foreign dignitaries.

"Speak, Jundel of Drall." He slid a brief glance to Grae, the Minister of the East, an almost reproving glance. But it was over before anyone could really catch it.

Jundel nodded politely to the gathering. Before and after her would be presentations sharing her stance, supporting the renewal of experimentation, and even a few who, like the Minister of the West, wanted her race annihilated. Only the continued intervention of the Infinitum Government kept anything from being conclusively decided, as it conducted its own investigations into the matter of the Draconis. In the meantime, the people of her planet continued their own private feud.

If she could persuade enough of them to let the Draconis be, then the Infinitum Government would have to back off. Because it would not interfere in such matters unless the race in question posed an obvious and very real threat to the universe as a whole. As it stood now, the Draconis had not proven to be such a thing. The investigation existed precisely because of that. It was only a few of the Coni, and some members of the IG, that wanted the Draconis wiped out. The majority wanted the experiments continued or stopped altogether. It was this fierce disagreement that had so far kept the Draconis alive.

At least on the surface. The bitter reality was that somewhere in the fourth quad, experiments were being performed on her people, most likely to enslave them further - and even make them into weapons. A tricky situation - if the Conis knew such things were occurring, they either ignored it or used that knowledge to push their desires for extermination in the unofficial meetings that occurred in bed chambers and private offices. Because no one was going to say such things here; not without iron clad proof that someone within the IG was conducting highly illegal genetic experiments on a race that was already considering potentially dangerous.

Her son and his match were working on that evidence, even while they tried to halt those very experiments. Even now a handful of other people were working as hard as she to help her race. The least she could do while she waited was continue to press her beliefs.

But she could care less about the majority of the Ministry. A waste of time and sanity, most of that lot. No - the fights she continued to pick weren't for the officials in their fancy robes. She looked up at the Audience, jewels sparkling in the sunlight that poured down from overhead. All were focused on her; her fights of late had become somewhat infamous. Not least of all because she often got into shouting matches with the Minister of the South - Yarman Koor. If she fought loud and often, the ones above her would eventually hear what she was saying.

Jundel smoothed the buttoned front of her business gown and set her notes out neatly in front of her before finally taking a seat. Lifting her chin, she looked directly at each and every minister at the table before quietly clearing her throat. A brief pause, and then she launched into her latest defense. Around her the ministers grumbled or frowned or nodded encouragingly. But it was the whispers and occasional clap from above that kept her going, kept her trying, and drove her to find new ways to make them all see reason.

 

Chapter Eight

Merchant class star ship 00061225, the dragonfly

"No deal, Val. You and I both know our haul is worth a hell of a lot more than that." Einn looked at the man across the table in disgust. "Stop treating me like some yuppie who doesn't know what the fuck he's doing. I outgrew that shit a long time ago."

Beside the Captain, Faller shifted minutely, impatient and annoyed.

Across the table was a human with dark brown skin, his scalp bald and shiny. A large, black leather and metal patch covered his right eye, an extension of the black leather and metal in which he was dressed. He lifted his heavy boots off the table where he'd propped them and leaned over the table. "I'm not treating you like anything, Einn. It ain't my damn problem your booty ain't worth what you thought it was worth."

"Don't make me repeat myself, Val. We've been doing business with you for a long time, and we've always been good to you. Start fucking with me, and I'll turn nasty in a hurry."

"Einn, Einn," Val relaxed back in his seat. "Don't jump the gun on me. I'm being honest with you."

Einn rolled his eyes, "You wouldn't know honest if it slept with you, Val. Save the oily voice for a sucker. It won't do anything but piss me off."

"When have I ever tried to stab you in the back, Einn? Come on, I've always been up front with you."

At this Einn snorted and rose to his feet, as did Faller. "You haven't stabbed me in the back because I've never been dumb enough to turn around. I'm not playing games with you, Val. Either pay me what I know my haul is worth or get the fuck off my ship. If you can't find the way out, Faller will be glad to escort you."

Faller looked almost giddy at the thought, his eyes a hard glitter. He watched the one-eyed man carefully as he and Einn made to exit the meeting room.

"Perhaps I'd offer more if you were giving me a complete inventory."

Einn stilled at that, "That is a complete inventory. What are you playing at?"

"Rumors about town are that you're still holding a man hostage."

"So what? A hostage is hardly inventory."

"I bet you'd change your mind if I were to tell you that particular hostage could be worth ten million points."

A sharp hiss escaped Einn's lips. "He's just a Rehabber. Why would someone be dumb enough to pay quality points for a stupid Guard?"

"Come off it, Captain." Val said impatiently. "You know damn good and well that's not a mere Rehabber. And if you don't know, you're an idiot."

Einn narrowed his eyes, motioning for an irate Faller to remain still. "I'm curious to know how you came about such information."

"Because I have clients in high places, and this particular client would like to make life difficult for a certain Lower Chancellor." Val still sat in his seat, for all the world looking like a bored, slightly annoyed businessman - albeit in leather and metal studs. "The obtainment of Cyan Alexander would greatly improve his abilities to do just that."

Faller sneered, "And no doubt you're being paid twice what you've offered to get him for your client. Which ring boss are you whoring yourself out to, hmm?"

"Shut it, Redskin."

"That's enough!" Einn snapped. "I had no idea you were this fucking worthless, Val. Really, it astonishes me."

Beside him, Faller snorted. "It shouldn't."

"Mmm, true." Einn nodded thoughtfully. "Scum is scum, I guess."

Val rose to his feet, boots clomping heavily on the floor. "Yeah, like you damned pirates have any fucking room to talk. Don't preach to me about scum. I'll give you one last chance - give me the Rehabber and I'll see you're paid double what the entire haul is worth, plus the 10 mil points."

"Forget it, Val." Einn waved his long, spindly arm in the air in a dismissive gesture. "I told you - he's not for sale. Not for any price. Now get the fuck off my ship." With a press of the control he kept strapped to one arm, the door of the meeting room slid open. "Guests first," he said icily.

Face cold, Val moved out of the room into the hallway. Faller and Einn eventually followed, staying several steps behind him and watching closely. Their footsteps clomped and clanked on the metal floor of the ship. All three remained stonily silent.

In the next instant, Einn's eyes went wide and he threw himself forward, tumbling both himself and his first mate to the floor as a small explosion rocked the ship. "Bottom-dweller," the epithet of his home planet didn't translate with quite the bite it would have had back on Fornar, but he felt better using it. He didn't have very strong magics, but he had enough to shield himself from the worst of the blast, and his own body served to protect Faller. He didn't bother waiting to ask if his first mate was okay, but immediately rose to his feet and surged toward Val.

Who had taken off at a run when he realized his small bomb hadn't been quite as effective as it was supposed to have been.

He came to a stumbling halt as at the hallway intersection a black-clad leg and boot connected with Val's face, sending the dark-skinned human crumpling to the floor. He blinked as Cyan appeared, standing over the man he'd just knocked out.

Cyan looked at Einn, "What the hell was that?"

"The fucker planted a bomb after we decided to turn down his offer. I assume he thought to take what he wanted after the bomb took care of us."

Unimpressed, Cyan looked back at the fleeing man he'd taken down, then back to Einn. "Rather a stupid ass plan. How on earth did he plan to take the entire haul with him?"

"He wasn't planning on taking the entire haul," Faller said, thoroughly pissed off, as he reached them. "He was planning on just taking you."

"What?" Cyan looked at them both like they'd grown extra heads.

Faller sighed, "Apparently word is out on the streets about just who exactly you are. And someone who doesn't like your brother very much was probably hoping to buy you from us and then hold you for ransom."

"I thought criminals were supposed to be intelligent." Cyan toed the unconscious Val. "Any one who did their job properly would know damn good and well my brother would sooner pay someone to kill me than to save me."

Einn and Faller remained silent, unable to form a worthy reply.

"So what do we do now?"

Grimacing, Einn turned to his first mate. "You okay?"

"A few scratches and a bruise or two. Nothing of any note."

"Then get us the fuck out of here. Bangkok isn't worth our time; we'll try to sell the haul somewhere between here and Kreska - or after Kreska. I don't fucking care anymore. Send some men to assess the damage in the conference room."

Faller eyed Val, stretched out awkwardly on the floor. "What should we do with him?"

"Put him in the brig. We'll drop him off on a meteor or something along the way. That'll teach him to try and fuck with the Dragonfly."

"Aye, Captain," Faller obeyed with relish. "You should get to medic."

"I'm fine," Einn said with a frown.

"Your back is a mass of blood," Faller replied.

Cyan's face knotted in concern, as he moved to examine Einn's back.

"Eh," Einn shrugged - then winced. "I guess I didn't block as much of the blast as I thought I had. Fine, I'll go to medic. At least it doesn't seem to have hurt anyone else."

Faller nodded, "It seems to have been rather limited in its effectiveness. If we'd closed the door as we left, you probably wouldn't have been hit at all." Suddenly he looked discomfited, "Thanks for--"

"Don't even say it, Lark. Get to the bridge and get us out of here before port control wants to know what all the noise is about. If they ask, tell'em the boys got rowdy celebrating."

"Celebrating what?" Faller fought an amused smile.

"How the fuck should I know? Last I checked, none of you needed an excuse to waste yourselves in port. Now get to the bridge." With a wince as the pain from the wounds finally began to hit him, Einn headed off in the opposite direction. "I'm going to medic."

Cyan remained in the hall, uncertainty on his face as he watched Einn walk off.

"He was offered ten mil for you, ya know." Faller said sourly.

That gave Cyan pause. "I hadn't realized I was that damn popular."

"That kind of money would have solved a lot of problems for us," Faller was staring at him.

"Then I guess it's lucky for me he's not that ruthless a pirate."

"You have no idea, Rehabber. No idea at all."

Cyan narrowed his eyes, "Just what exactly are you trying to say? Because you're not making yourself real damn clear."

"I'm saying," Faller said in a stony voice, "That Einn's been going to a fuckload of trouble for you. The crew doesn't trust you, I certainly don't like you, we've been screwed on our pay because of you, we're going out of our way to deliver you to Kreska, and those wounds on his back and the fact we have to flee Bangkok is because of you."

Cyan turned his gaze away, looked abashed. "I didn't know I'd cause so much trouble." He turned back, frowning. "But I really don't know what you expect me to do it about it."

"Try getting over yourself. He's bending over backwards because he's been taken with you from the beginning. He doesn't just take on anyone who asks and deliver them to places well out of our general territory. You've had nothing but special treatment since you first asked for transport. So the very least you could do is thaw that chilly righteous Rehabber attitude of yours."

"Why the hell do you care? I would think you'd be happier to see me gone."

Faller turned away, voice both angry and tired. "Yeah, I'd like you to be gone yesterday. But his happiness means more, even if I have to put up with you. And even if it's only until we reach Kreska. So go work on making happy before I decide to lay you out like you did Val." Not bothering to look back at him, Faller stalked stiffly down the hallway toward the bridge.

Cyan stared after him, dumbfounded.

Then with a heavy sigh he turned and made his way to the medic room.

He paused in the doorway, more distracted that he wanted to admit by the sight of a bare-chested Einn. He'd probably be more distracted if Einn's back wasn't currently being cleaned and bandaged. "Can't you heal most of that yourself?" he asked as he crossed the room to stand in front of him.

Einn shook his head, quickly masking his surprise at seeing Cyan there. "No - my magics are enough to staunch the flow of blood, if I really wanted to use them. But it's not worth the energy expenditure. I already lost a lot creating the shield that kept me from real harm."

"So there's no serious damage?"

The medic, an older human with graying hair and a stern face, answered Cyan's question. "Shallow cuts always bleed a lot; that's why they look worse than they really are. Other than that, he's only got a few minor burns. He's suffered worse than this."

Cyan smiled, relieved. "That's good to know."

Einn had his head tilted down so the medic could attend to a burn on his neck, and lifted only his eyes to stare at Cyan. "I didn't know you cared."

"Neither did I," Cyan said slowly. "Your charming first mate pointed it out to me."

"You're all set, Captain." The medic interrupted.

"Thank you, Ronald."

Ronald simply nodded, and quietly left the room as Einn immediately turned his attention back to Cyan. "I don't need you asking after me because Faller ordered you to."

"I don't take orders from anyone." Cyan glared at him, though there was uncertainty in his eyes. "I was trying to keep my distance for very good reasons."

Einn regarded him cautiously. "Very stupid reasons."

"So I've been told. More than once. None of you has any common sense."

"If we had that, we wouldn't make very good pirates."

"I don't get you."

"What's to get?"

"Why you give two shits about me, for starters."

Einn shrugged, wincing slightly. "If I knew, I'd tell you. Why does it matter? I give, isn't that good enough?"

"I would think you'd give more for ten million points."

"I'm going to kill Faller. As soon as he's asleep, so he can't kick my ass for trying."

Cyan laughed, though it sounded somewhat forced. "This is a bad idea."

"No, it's not. You just think too much, Rehab."

A sigh of resignation, "Then maybe I'll try to think a little less, for a while anyway."

There was a slight pause, as both hesitated over what to do. It was Cyan who finally moved first, stepping close and carefully settling his hands on Einn's shoulders to avoid any wounds, tilting his head to meet Einn's lips.

 

Chapter Nine

Unknown location, private Research facility

"I don't understand it," a fair-haired human with light red skin all but threw his In-specs down on the table as he took a seat. He picked up his fork and proceeded to stab viciously at his food. "We've checked and checked and checked."

"We're just not looking in the right places, is all." Spoke a scientist seated opposite him. She smoothed a stray piece of blonde hair back into the tight knot at the back of her head.

"And what is the right place, Clara? Do tell me."

Clara's mouth pinched in disapproval, "There's no need to snap at me, Ferman. We keep concentrating on the Draconis. What we should be doing is focusing our efforts on the mates."

A third scientist, a man slightly older than his middle-aged compatriots, waved her words away. "Don't be stupid. It's perfectly obvious that the mating aspect lies with the Draconis. How else could they mate with any magics capable being?"

"Maybe there's some universal quality we're missing, that all magic capable share."

"Forget it," Ferman said. "That's impossible."

"Why do you say that? You both are being remarkably close minded about this." Clara abandoned her own food, too annoyed to eat it.

"Because if there is some 'universal quality,' science would have found it a long time ago. Don't you think that as hard as humans have worked to figure out why we aren't magics capable, that we would have found such a thing long before now?"

"Coulter, I think you're being short sighted. Anyway, I don't see why everyone wants magic so badly anyway. Aren't we humans in control because we aren't magics capable?"

Coulter took a sip of his wine and glared gently at her over the rim of the glass, "They don't want magics, you idiot. Haven't you been paying attention in all your research? They want weapons, bodyguards, slaves and the like. The Laws set down by the original Chancellors of the Infinitum Government specified only that those with magics capability are not permitted to hold government offices, because the risk of magical tampering was simply too high. After all, we all remember what happened when magics capable did run the government…But moving - there is no law saying that officials cannot own servants, or employ bodyguards with magics, so long as they're approved by the Board. And how do you disapprove of a creature that is bound body, soul and mind to his master?"

"One would think," Clara replied, "That would be reason enough. All sorts of problems could arrive from such a thing."

"Hardly. So long as the Chancellors and their people can't use magics, there isn't much a fancy bodyguard or servant can do. And if we code things properly, they won't be able to so much as think about disobeying - which negates any potential problems from something like mind magics."

"Mmm," was all Clara said in reply, unconvinced. "That aside, they're still asking us to create a race of slaves. History has proven over and over again that such a thing never goes well. And it always ends in violence. Or are we forgetting the Last Revolution of Earth? There are very good reasons the anti-slave laws in that galaxy are so rigid.

Ferman shrugged, "Who cares? We're just paid to do the research. Let someone else worry about the morals and ethics. That's not part of what we do."

"Anyway," Coulter said. "Earth was different. These slaves will be perfectly and completely bound, with no chance to protest, rebel, or even think about it."

"Mmm…." Clara remained unconvinced. "Doesn't it work both ways?"

"Not once we're done," Coulter replied confidently. "If we can just isolate what controls the mating process, we can begin to alter it to our specifications." He paused to slurp his soup for a moment, "I wish we were closer to isolating it. I've already confirmed that Draconis could indeed be used to supplement the Devastators, and if we could bond them to the magics soldiers, there's not a force in the world that could match the Infinitum Army. If only we could pinpoint what drives the mating!"

"At least that's your only problem," Ferman said irritably. "We've got to reconfigure the whole damn thing, once we find it, to force a compatibility with humans."

Coulter snorted, "I'm sure once they bring us that Draconis mated to a magics capable human they keep telling us about, you'll be on your way to figuring things out there."

"Which is why I keep saying we should be focusing on the mates, not the Draconis," Clara said tartly. "Especially if we can examine a magics capable human. Once we compare it to a normal human, we'll have our answer. And I bet you my entire month's salary that we'll find that universal quality I've been theorizing about. Just wait and see."

"We'll see."

"Indeed we will," Clara rose to her feet, followed almost immediately by the two men. Their white lab coats flapped behind them as they left the cafeteria.

A few tables beyond where the scientists had been sitting, four lab assistants rose to take care of their own dishes and those left sitting by the scientists. One woman, red-skinned and copper haired, had to be nudged by a companion. "Lorraine!"

"Huh? Oh. Sorry. Guess I spaced out."

"I'll say. You were way far away. Hurry up, come on. We've got to get all this cleaned up and then get to lab."

Lorraine grumbled and rose to her feet, helping the others to clean up the small cafeteria. "Coming, coming. I don't see why the good doctors can't clean up their own damn dishes."

Her companion, a mocha-skinned female, laughed. "Don't be silly, Lorra. You know the Project Leaders are too smart to know how to use a sink properly. And they might get their hands dirty!"

"That's enough," a young man looked at them reprovingly. "Just get the chores done so we're not late back to lab."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry; we won't keep you from kissing ass." The last assistant, a white-skinned, red haired female, poked him playfully in the back with a broom. "You'll still be in the good graces of her Ladyship, never fear."

"Hey, just because I want to make sure someone else is washing my dishes someday…"

"It's a good thing too," Lorra said with a grin. "Because you couldn't wash a dish properly to save your life."

"Hey!" The four continued to bicker and play as they made short work of the small space, washing the dishes and cleaning off the tables.

"All right," the young man crowed. "Lab time."

"Have fun," Lorraine waved at them, grinning impishly.

The darker skinned woman looked at her, "You don't have lab?"

Lorraine winked as she palmed the switch to open the door, "Nope. Dr. Coulter is done for now, and he said I was free to do as I liked the rest of the day."

"Che," the red haired woman snorted. "Day. When was the last time we saw anything resembling day or night?"

"Mmm, true." Lorraine agreed with a grimace. "He said I had the next ten hours free. So I'll see you guys for dinner."

"Okay. Enjoy the time off. Lazy bum." The man called after her teasingly as she stepped into the hallway and made her way cheerfully back to her small cubicle of a room. But once inside, the cheerful façade crumbled into worry.

It had been too damn easy.

They'd laid it all for her to take, like some mouth watering meal.

Or a well-baited trap.

Well, she wasn't as stupid as they obviously thought she was.

Stretching and yawning, Lorraine took her time changing out of her lab clothes and into her comfortable lounging ones. She brushed her hair and hummed, tidied up the few bits of clothing and books she'd left lying around. Turning on her personal computer, she sat down to write out a letter.

She was almost one hundred percent positive they didn't know who their lab rat was. Oh, they knew it was one of the four Lab assistants and not one of the miscellaneous personal around the facility. But they didn't know which of the four it was. That, she was confident about.

They also thought she was an amateur, to fall for such an obvious trap.

Clearly they still hadn't figured out that they'd fallen for her trap when they'd hired her. She hadn't been a scientist all her life, the fools.

And obvious was exactly what the trap was, because the good doctors never discussed their experiments where the lowly assistants might hear them. Of course, the other three probably hadn't been paying any attention to what the scientists said, so certain that the doctors were listening to their students' attempts to sound brilliant and clever.

No, she was probably the only one who had listened to the conversation that had been pitched just loud enough to hear, if you were interested in listening.

So they knew there was a rat. Well, it had only been a matter of time. Some of the information put to use by Spring could only have come from the lab. And while she'd been careful about what got sent to HQ, it had been inevitable that at some point they would narrow the list of suspects down.

Of course, she had hoped to have gleaned their location by the time that happened. A minor kink in the plans, but as her mother had always said - if the food was spoiled, throw it out and make do with whatever you had left.

Unfortunately there wasn't much left. But it would suffice. She looked over the letter she'd written.

Karmikel,

Miss you something awful, baby. I'm bored out of my mind buried in this rock. Every day it's the same faces, the same experiments, the same problems - I'm about to go out of my mind. I'm starting to wish I'd never taken this damned job - the extra course credits aren't worth my sanity.

I would match rather be earning personal credits, both of us naked in your bed and acting out every last little thing you described in your last letter. Some of them more than once, I think. I keep that letter on my nightstand you know. And read it every night…

Think about that, why don't you, until I get out of here.

All my Love,
Lorraine.

Despite the gravity of her situation, reading the letter tried every last bit of her will power. It was so hard not to laugh, thinking about Karmikel reading such an absurd letter. They'd been exchanging them ever since she first started working towards getting hired for the facility - nearly two and a half years now - and she couldn't help but wonder how Karmikel looked every time he was forced to read them. Because read them he must, in case she encoded some message in them.

This was the first time she'd had too, and the code was so obvious it would be overlooked by machine and human checkers alike. The 'love letters' exchanged between Lorraine and her much-discussed 'sweetheart' were so regular, she doubted they checked them more than half-heartedly. And she blathered about her 'beloved' so often at night, none doubted the authenticity of it. Perhaps she was a scientist now, but she'd grown up on the stage and damned if she didn't still have a knack for it.

It was all in the last line. Always she ended her letters "until I see you again," or "until I'm back." This time it said "until I get out of here."

To her comrades, that last little bit meant only one thing.

Trouble.

Chapter Ten

Merchant class star ship 00061225, the Dragonfly

Einn smiled down at the sleeping figure curled up against his side, snoring softly. Lifting his free arm, he ran his hand through Cyan's close-cropped hair.

He probably wouldn't be awake for a while. It had surprised Einn, to learn how hard a sleeper Cyan was. He would have expected a Guard to be more alert. Then again, it wasn't like they were in danger - they didn't do their sleeping in the facilities.

Still - Cyan slept like a rock.

Though, to give him credit, they'd both been rather exhausted by the time they actually went to sleep. Einn chuckled and reached for the controller on his bedside table that activated a remote screen of his main computer, and settled into doing 'desk work' while Cyan slept, reading expense reports and other data files.

It was nice. Not a bad way to spend his mornings. It made the best kind of change from his normal routine. When was the last time he'd had a lover like this? Who was content just to sleep. Whom he was content to let sleep? He couldn't recall.

In just four days they'd reach Kreska. It was a shame they couldn't take him back home, Einn wouldn't have minded a longer affair at all.

Einn ran his hand through Cyan's hair again and made himself focus on the numbers before him and not on how he was going to miss Cyan. Because that made no sense at all. He'd had love affairs that had lasted longer and shorter than his time with Cyan, and he'd never missed any of those. So there was no point in missing this one.

Unconsciously he began to massage Cyan's scalp, who - still fast asleep - pressed himself closer. Sighing softly, Einn pressed a kiss to his temple and then forced his mind back on his work. He'd get a bit more accomplished, and then set about the delightful task of waking Cyan up.

"I really don't see how I'm supposed to get any work done when you come in looking like that," Einn said in exasperation, eyes never the less examining every inch of Cyan's fresh-from-sparring body.

"Stop looking," Cyan said unsympathetically from beneath the towel he was using to mop sweat from his face.

Einn snorted, "Yeah. And next I'll give up breathing."

Rolling his eyes, Cyan circled around the desk to stand beside him, "Busy? I was surprised you didn't come along to watch us spar."

"Miss me?"

"Hardly," Cyan replied. "It was nice and quiet for once."

"You and Lark are never quiet." Einn motioned to his computer screens, "Thanks to that bastard currently in our brig, we have to find a new contact through which to sell our haul." He frowned in annoyance, mashing a few keys as he read over the print on the left hand screen. "Which is easier said that done. Contacts of the caliber I require are few and far between; it takes years to build up the resources and connections they need to sell the kinds of goods my men and I acquire. And they need to be relatively trustworthy, which is like asking pirates not to steal." He spun irritably away from his computer, turning to face Cyan. "It's annoying."

Cyan glanced at the two glowing screens, "So what's all that? A database of contacts?"

"Something like that," Einn spared them a glance. "The result of years in this business - a collection of any contacts we've worked with in the past, for whatever reason. There's other stuff here as well - market and black market prices for the stuff we acquire, in all quadrants. And the best places to sell certain things - we don't always hand everything off to Val, even if he was our only regular contact and Bangkok is an ideal planet for selling almost everything we acquire. Unfortunately, I'm not sure we can go back there for a while. Not after what Val did and our abrupt departure." Einn winked suddenly, "We've even got Rehab records in here, to keep us up to date on which contacts are available and which ones are otherwise occupied."

"How in the hell did you get Rehab records?" Cyan asked in disbelief. "Never mind. I'll be happier not knowing."

Einn laughed. Reaching up lazily with one arm he latched onto Cyan's neck and dragged him down for a kiss, humming in pleasure when Cyan immediately responded, moving forward to straddle Einn's legs. His hands roamed Cyan's chest, still hot and slick with sweat from his earlier exertions, body still thrumming with energy.

"Do you suppose your work could wait a bit?" Cyan asked between kisses.

"I suppose so…"

*~*~*~*

"What's wrong?" Cyan looked up from his computer, where he'd been reading a book. "You look like you just swallowed a bug."

"Nothing, really. Crew is still being pissy. Ungrateful asses."

Cyan frowned.

"Don't even say it," Einn said before he could speak. "They've got nothing to be pissy about. Lark would agree with me, so long as you weren't within in earshot." He strolled toward his closet, digging around until he finally came out with a small pouch. "It'd be one thing if I was slacking off - letting you distract me. But I'm not." He made a face. "Like Faller would ever let me get away with laziness."

"There is Bangkok."

"Che," Einn collapsed onto his bed, limbs wide. "Personally, I'm glad to have learned sooner rather than later that Val is that much of a back-stabbing, money-grubbing bastard. And the more I think about it, the more I don't wonder if we were getting a little too cozy with Bangkok as our main port. So really, it all worked out for the best. They need stop their bitching and do as they're told. Maybe the extra duties and the beatings Faller is threatening will knock the sense back into their heads. If not - they can stew in the brig with Val."

Cyan was silent.

Stretching again, Einn sat up and bent over to start tugging at the lacings of his right boot - which Cyan noticed had broken about halfway down. He stood and moved to help, kneeling in front of him and shoving Einn's fingers away to work at the laces himself. "Don't you think you're taking things too lightly? I thought a crew like this was supposed to be a team."

"No," Einn replied. "And really - we're criminals. There are no bonds of love or loyalty here. Camaraderie maybe. But in the end it's just a job to most of them. Profitable, if less than legal." Einn shrugged, "They're just antsy because we haven't had a real break in awhile. Normally we would have stopped in Bangkok, but…" he looked thoughtful. "Maybe we could stop off somewhere near Kreska. I'd say Kreska but it's largely a legal planet; too easy to get into trouble there."

Cyan nodded absently, still fighting to pull the laces completely out of the boot. "Why do you wear these ridiculous things? There are more practical shoes to wear for space travel."

"Yeah, but these are for climbing."

"Climbing. Last I checked, Einn, no one did a lot of that in space," Cyan said, amused.

Einn shrugged, discomfited. "It's what I'm used to. I don't feel right if I don't have climbing shoes. And besides, these boots were custom-made for me, on Fornar, by one the best shoemakers on the planet."

"How does a pirate afford such expensive shoes?"

A beat of silence, as Einn hesitated. "Because my father made them."

Cyan blinked. "Why the hell are you a pirate then?"

"Because." Einn said shortly.

For a moment Cyan looked as if he might say something, but instead he simply nodded and went back to work on the boot, finally tugging the last of the lacing free. He stood and moved to sit beside Einn.

Einn spoke quietly, as he pulled a new, long string of leather out of the pouch he'd retrieved earlier. "I never got along with my family. Or my community. I don't know what you know about Fornarians…"

"You climb rocks, have powerful magics you can't really use, and aren't much for commitment. A very…minimalist culture." Cyan shrugged, "You aren't much for talking either. The last one of you I dated never really had much to say. And then she left." A brief silence followed his slightly bitter statement.

"Mmm…well, for all that we're mostly a reclusive bunch not big on commitment…" He trailed off, and then started over. "Life on Fornar isn't easy. It's nothing remotely close to easy. When you spend the better part of every day vertical, and the rest of it scrounging for water and food, you don't have much time left for anything else. It's hard to explain. Anyway - our population is very, very small. So while Fornarians may prefer brief liaisons to long-term relationships, and there are good reasons for that, they're very much against anyone leaving home. Because every one that leaves is at least one more that probably will never be born."

Cyan looked thoughtful, "Doesn't sound like much of a life, really. I can't say I'd blame anyone for leaving. But I guess I really wouldn't know."

Einn smiled, "It's not that bad. We do have communities, little caves that are close together and larger caves where people can meet en masse when it's too cold to climb to the plateaus at the top. A vertical lifestyle isn't easy, but we do all right."

"But if it's so hard to live vertical, why not just live on the ground? Surely that would be easier?"

"Be a bottom-dweller?" Einn's lip curled. "The ground is for the dead, the carcass-eaters and the incompetent."

"I see."

Einn laughed, "If a Fornarian calls you a bottom-dweller, best turn around and go in the opposite direction at top speed."

"I'll remember that," Cyan nudged the boot Einn was re-lacing. "So these boots make it easier to climb? The only climbing I do involves ladders and ropes, and standard-issue boots work just fine for that."

"Technically, a regular, low cut shoe would be better - though it would still lace. These boots somewhat hinder the flexibility of my ankle, though not as much as you would think because they were made by a man who knew what he was doing." There was unmistakable pride in Einn's voice. "And you see the toes?" Einn lifted his foot slightly for Cyan to see.

"Yeah…"

"They've been narrowed to better fit into cracks and crevices, since even we're not dumb enough to climb in bare feet. We'd probably have devised a good way to cover our hands too, except our magics wouldn't work through the fabric."

"You mean the way you stick, right? I've seen that trick."

"Ah yes, I guess you would." Einn smiled. "It's always fun to show that one to people not familiar with it. I'm surprised you've encountered another Fornarian. I've run into perhaps three others, all across the stars."

Cyan shrugged. "Mars gets a lot of transients."

"There is that," Einn said briefly. "Anyway - you may know this - the sticking thing, as well as a few other similar tricks, are what the experts call 'Adaptive Magics' because we 'adapt' to our environment. The shielding and healing fall under that category, rather than other 'Defensive Magics' because they're only strong enough to work on us, in our specific environment."

"Mmm…I've heard it said frequently that Fornarians would be lethal if they were strong enough to use their magics to the fullest of their potential."

"Thankfully, no one will ever know," Einn replied. "Even if we could use them to that extent, I don't think any Fornarian would. The belief back home is that the best climbers don't need their magics at all."

Cyan nodded, "So why did you leave home? It's obvious you love it a great deal."

"I do…" Einn said softly. "But I like being out here more. I wouldn't mind visiting…but once you leave, you're as good as dead. Leaving the planet is a betrayal, and that's the end of it."

"Awfully old-fashioned for a planet of the Infinitum Government."

"Some planets don't want to be bombarded by star-hoppers and glittering lights. And really - what on Fornar would ever invite anyone? There's nothing to do if you're not a native, and they would never tolerate clubs and hotels and all the rest of it. They have the obligatory star-ports of course…but that's probably all they'll ever have."

"But wouldn't it make their lives easier, to import all that stuff?"

Einn shook his head, "It's a pride thing. Fornarians live a hard life, but it's one they're proud of. So they don't like it when members leave, and they hate more when foreigners come in. And that's not going to change anytime soon, no matter what inter-planetary government they fall under." He looked at Cyan, "Your culture is quite a bit different, so it probably does sound weird to you."

"I know the pride that comes from living a hard life well," Cyan said. "Rehab isn't exactly a cake walk. I understand what you're saying, to some degree. So you had an urge to wander? How did you get the boots then?"

"My father, I think, understood me a bit. And it was pure chance I even learned he was my father." Einn laughed softly at some memory.

"You guys really aren't into families."

"Too limiting," Einn toyed with Cyan's hair. "Population is hard enough to maintain without putting boundaries and limits on who can do what with who."

Cyan lifted an eyebrow, "And what happens if you accidentally wind up in bed with your sister or brother somewhere down the road?"

"No such words in our language. I told you - we don't have families the same as the rest of you."

"I'm not even delving into that one. I just wanted to know about the boots." Cyan smiled, "You're awfully chatty for a rock-climber."

Drawing a knee up to tuck under his chin, Einn shrugged. "Impulse. And I unlearned some things being the captain of a pirate ship. I was always oddly noisy anyway."

"So why piracy?"

"Why?" Einn asked teasingly, "Going to preach to me?"

"No. Just curious."

Einn dropped his knee and shifted uncomfortably on the bed, looking momentarily troubled. "That's a long, unhappy story that I really don't feel like telling. Haven't you heard enough about me already, anyway?"

In reply, Cyan just laughed softly and leaned close, tilting his head up to nibble at Einn's lips and kiss him softly. He looked sad as the kiss ended, but the expression faded as Einn ran a hand through his hair in a gesture that was already so familiar. "Well - fair's fair, I guess."

"Hmm?" Einn asked absently.

"I mean," Cyan said with a soft chuckle. "That is there was anything you wanted to know - just ask."

"Oh. I'll settle for the obvious for now - why are you doing all this just to get to Kreska?"

"Because if I traveled here myself," Cyan leaned against Einn, allowing the man to keep petting him as he spoke. "Warning bells would go off in several places."

"Are you in trouble for something? Ah, but no. You said you were going to meet a friend."

"Right. A term ago, a convict managed to escape from my Rehab center."

Einn nodded, "Everyone knows that story. The Draconis that escaped along with a mutant human. It was wild stuff - I swear half the universe claimed to have seen them fleeing. There were awards and stuff posted everywhere."

"That 'mutant' is my best friend." Cyan looked at his hands, still resting in his lap. "I've been taking care of things for him since he fled - including his mother." His hands fisted, "Who's fallen dangerously ill. She's probably not going to last much longer. Kreska's the only point of contact I have with Sean."

"I see now. Coni isn't fair from Kreska. And being a Draconis, naturally the escapee would most likely escape back home where he'll have comrades. And you being a friend…"

"Yeah."

A pause, "What were you planning on doing before we happened along to rob your ship?"

Cyan shrugged, "I was making it up as I went along."

That made Einn laugh.

A knock at the door interrupted them, and a moment later Faller stepped inside. He stared at Einn, completely ignoring Cyan. "A call for you. On the bridge." The two exchanged some silent conversation, and Einn reluctantly pulled away from Cyan and stood.

"What's wrong?"

Einn leaned down to kiss him briefly. "Now, now, Rehab. Ignorance is best, for you and for us. I'll be back shortly."

"All right," Cyan watched them go with a frown, then shoved his thoughts away and forced his attention back on his forgotten book.

 

Chapter Eleven

Merchant class star ship 00061225, the Dragonfly

"Approaching Kreska. ETA to transport range thirty minutes."

Einn's voice was carefully neutral as he acknowledged his crewman's words. Beside him, Cyan was silent and still. Einn fell back into his own silence, letting Faller take care of things.

They'd already said their goodbyes; there wasn't really anything left to say. So why did Einn feel like there was?

Fingers danced lightly across his left shoulder, and Einn looked up smiled. He and Cyan both started to speak at the same time--

And were cut off by a sudden chiming from the console. "Boss on the line for you, Captain."

"I'm busy at the moment," Einn said with a warning glare. "He can wait thirty minutes or so."

"Says it's urgent, Captain."

Einn shook his head, "I don't care. He can wait."

"Says no it can't - you have a special guest he'd like to have a word with."

"No!" Einn snarled. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"What the hell?" Cyan asked. "Why does he want to talk to me?" he asked the crewman at the communication console.

The man looked at Einn, whose glare was nothing less than murderous, then looked back at Cyan. "Says it would be rude to call and not say hello to his brother."

On Einn's shoulder, Cyan's previously gentle touch turned into a painfully tight grip. "Put it up. Now."

The crewman punched a button, and on the main view-screen overlooking the bridge appeared the smirking face of Jade, bedecked in robes of red and gold, the scarlet painted nails of one hand drumming idly against his cheek. "Well, well. You're looking the worse for wear, little brother. Are you always so pale? You should spend less time holed up on that prison planet of yours."

"What...what in the hell is going on here?"

"Oh - did your lover leave that part out?" Jade flicked his amber eyes toward Einn, who remained mute. "He works for me. Imagine my surprise when a fellow Chancellor came to tell me that some "unknown" pirate ship took my brother hostage. I was quite amused. Only to be told that you paid for the pleasure. And quite the pleasure it is I hear."

Snarling, Einn rose from his seat and severed the connection, smashing the console and turning on the man who had disobeyed him. "Get off the bridge. NOW."

"So you work for my brother?" Cyan said into the cold silence that followed. "All this time you've been reporting everything to him?" He jerked away from Einn's touch. "Are you stupid? Why the hell? I can't believe--GET AWAY FROM ME!" But instead of backing away, Cyan ducked away from Einn's attempts to calm him and then swung a punch hard enough to bruise even Einn's tough skin.

"ETA twenty minutes" a voice said meekly.

Faller had moved to drag the offending crewman off, and returned to watch the fight in silence, moving only to warn off the crew from any action.

"I don't believe you," Cyan said bitterly. "I thought you were better than that. You work for my brother?"

"It's not what you think."

Cyan looked ready to hit him again, "Clearly it never was. Fuck. I'm a fool. You're a bigger fool. Have you any idea just how fucking stupid an idea it is to work for him?"

"I have a pretty good idea, yes." Einn said, his own irritation rising. "Would you shut up and listen to me?"

"No." There was finality in Cyan's voice. "I've already made plenty of mistakes because I listened to you. I won't do it again. You're my brother's lackey - anyone who deals willingly with him isn't worth listening to."

"I don't do it willingly!" Einn shouted desperately. "You're usually so reasonable, I don't understand why you won't let me explain."

"Reasonable?" Cyan echoed. "Reasonable? This is Jade we're talking about. There's nothing reasonable about him. There's nothing sane about him. My brother is a scheming, lying, manipulative, conniving, unstable bastard. And anyone who assists him is stupid and headed for certain death."

"Yeah, I know."

"Clearly you don't!"

Einn blinked, taken aback by the veracity of Cyan's words. It suddenly occurred to him that most of Cyan's anger sprang from fear. But fear of what, he didn't quite know.

"You have no idea what Jade is capable of," Cyan continued before he could speak. "And I can't believe I trusted you. You knew! This entire time you fucking knew. Who. I. Was. And you never told me a goddamned word. Not one! And now you've probably put Sean in danger, because my brother isn't stupid." Misery joined the fear and anger in Cyan's face. "Have you any idea what you might have done?"

"I highly doubt your brother gives two shits why you're here - I certainly never told him. And the minute I find out who has been spilling information, they'll be lucky if all I do is kill them." The tone of his voice promised all who heard it that his words were no idle threat.

"Whatever," Cyan turned away in disgust. "That'll teach me to deal with pirates. And to think that-" he shook his head. "If something happens to Sean because of you, I'll kill you."

A crewman spoke up. "Within range of ground transporters."

Cyan stalked toward the door, glaring darkly at Faller a moment before he turned back to Einn.

"It's not what you think," Einn tried one last time.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that you've lied to me this entire time. About Jade. None of you get just how terrible he really is. There are several reasons I try not to be associated with him. Whatever deal you think you have with him, he doesn't agree." His eyes were angry and sad as he looked at Einn. "He's going to kill you eventually, make no mistake about that. And he'll probably make sure you take the blame for a great many of his schemes. He's nothing but trouble. If you actually manage to survive whatever it is he's plotting, don't get pissed when I show up just to say 'I told you so." He mashed the open button for the door, and paused on the threshold. "Thanks for the lift, Captain." He didn't say goodbye.

Einn wanted to hurt something - or someone. "Would somebody like to explain to me why we feel the sudden need to disobey my orders?"

"Because, Cap'n…" a crewman rose to his feet, stunner in hand, "We don't much feel like following'em anymore. And the Boss had decided we'd be better off without you."

Einn went cold.

"What the hell are you going on about," Faller snapped. He narrowed his eyes as another crewman leveled a stunner at him.

"Lord Alexander ain't got no problem with you, Faller."

"Well it's too damn bad I've got a problem with him. And if you don't drop that weapon right this instant, you'll regret it."

"I think we've got the upper hand here, Faller. Now - Lord Alexander has said you're both to be killed, if you wouldn't see reason." The insect-like crewman who controlled navigation stared at Einn, his stunner still leveled at him. "But you've been a pretty good captain all these years. So we'd be willing to dump you on Kreska. If you'll go peacefully and not make any trouble."

Einn was sorely tempted to tell them all to just start shooting. He and Lark could easily take out most of the bridge before they went down for good. But that was the easy way out, and if things were falling apart like this…

Cyan and his friend probably were in danger. He really wished he had some sort of clue as to what the fuck was going on. "Fine. We'll go to Kreska."

"There's a wise decision."

Faller shot him a glare, but subsided at Einn's warning look. "You lot realize that if I ever see you again, I'll kill you."

"Don't take it personally, Faller." Another red-skinned human and the insectoid guided them off the bridge and toward the transporters. "We've noticed the Captain getting soft of late, and you're all too willing to follow his orders. But Alexander has bigger plans, and no soft Captain is going to be able to carry them out."

"Soft?" Einn asked quietly.

No one replied, instead the insectoid keyed in the codes for Kreska and helped shove Einn and Faller onto the transporter. "Make yourselves scarce; if we see you again, someone really is going to have to die."

Einn remained silent, and in the next moment he and Faller were gone.

Planet 11851911 (kreska), Solo City

Einn fought an urge to scream as he and Faller rapidly exited the transport station - the only one, in the only major city on Kreska.

It was a planet of browns and greens and blues; too remote even for those who enjoyed a rustic style vacation. Kreska was the source of a great many luxurious textiles, though the amount of wood and other natural resources utilized was closely supervised by the Infinitum Government. Little of note occurred on the sleepy planet, so no one paid any mind to them - travelers were infrequent but not unheard of.

Several minutes later Einn and Faller were holed up in an inn. Einn stared dourly out the window.

"He won't be that hard to find," Faller offered, voice almost comforting.

"What in the hell is going on here? It makes no sense at all. None."

Faller shrugged, rubbing his face tiredly with his hand - he'd long ago discarded the In-specs worn to control the ship they no longer manned. "I don't know. When and if we ever get back to the Dragonfly I'm going to beat every one of them until I find out how they managed to scheme behind my back like that.

"It's obvious Alexander is up to something."

"No shit. What was up with that call on the bridge?"

Einn shrugged, "I think that was meant exclusively for Cyan. I can't see what other purpose it served. We're damned lucky the crew didn't turn into complete bastards, though. Otherwise we'd both be dead - and there'd be no one to help Cyan."

"You really think he's in danger?"

"Yes. I don't know why - maybe because the mutiny didn't happen until he was gone. I think it probably wasn't supposed to happen until our bodies could be sent into the nearest sun." he shrugged. "Like I said, I'm glad the crew decided to spare us. Though I'm certainly not going to grant them the same courtesy."

Fall agreed with a few muttered curses of his own. "So I guess we'd better set to work finding your lover. Or should that be ex?"

"Shut up. You're not helping."

"For what it's worth, he'll probably forgive you eventually."

"I'm surprised you care enough to even attempt such a thoughtful if stupid comment."

Faller shrugged, "I think you're both idiots. But he was at least as miserable as you when he stormed off, which to my mind means you'll eventually be happily reunited idiots."

"I'll settle for making sure he's okay. But thank you."

"Whatever. Let's get going."

 

Chapter Twelve

Planet 11851911 (Kreska), Solo City

Cyan waited as calmly as he could. For three days now he'd been waiting here, at a small inn on the outskirts of Solo. A handful of contacts and wandering all over the city had led him here…and now he was waiting.

And not thinking.

He cursed beneath his breath

Not thinking about it.

And to think he'd almost asked Einn not to disappear forever…it would have been a dumb thing to do. What the hell sort of life could a Rehab Guard have with a pirate? None. But he'd almost asked anyway.

Stupid. Not thinking about it.

How? How could someone like Einn be working for Jade? It made him shake, both in rage and fear. Einn had seemed…so much better than that. He still was having a hard time believing it.

"It's not what you think!"

There'd been so many moments in those few short days where it'd been easy to forget Einn was a pirate. So easy.

Well, he'd known it was a bad idea even as he'd let Einn make him forget. Served him right if he was paying for it now, especially as he was feeling far more upset about it than he should. They'd really only been together a little more than a week, there was no reason he should be this upset. And if he ever saw the bastard again he was going to beat him.

Cyan shifted impatiently in his chair, fighting the urge to get up and just start breaking things.

Soft footsteps broke his reverie, and grateful for the interruption he looked up to see who else was in the empty dining room.

"Sean."

"Cyan," Sean smiled at him, happy but hesitant. "What brings you all the way to Kreska?" Behind him stood a familiar-looking Draconis with gold-green scales and a solemn expression. He reluctantly slid a protective arm from around Sean's shoulders as he stepped toward Cyan.

In one quick, smooth motion Cyan rose from his seat, stepped around the table, and sent Sean reeling back from a blow to the jaw. "Son of a bitch! It's all your fault!" He held out a hand to help Sean up.

"What's my fault?" Sean rubbed his jaw, which was going to be bruised even with his healing magics. It was only Cyan's skill at throwing a punch and the healing that prevented its being broken.

"Everything," Cyan answered, his misery finally showing on his face.

"…Why are you here? What's wrong?"

Cyan continued just to stare, then seemed to shake himself. "Right. Are you okay?"

"I'll survive," Sean grinned. "It's good to see you again, whatever the circumstances. I expected worse from you, honestly."

"I don't have the energy." Cyan shook his head, "But never mind. I'm not certain how safe this is for you. Did they relay that part of the message?"

"Yeah, we got it." Sean sat down at the table, motioning the other two to do the same. "But everything should be secure, baring something particularly unusual or bizarre on the part of this potential threat. Which you didn't name."

"Because I don't fucking feel like it. Suffice to say you may not want to stay too long."

Sean frowned, but hearing the pain in Cyan's voice, let the matter drop. "So what brings you all the way here?"

Cyan hesitated. "It's your mom," he said finally. "There's no easy way to say this. She's sick - sick enough that she probably isn't going to recover."

"I…I see…" Sean paled. He leaned into the Draconis, who had immediately moved to half-embrace him.

It hurt to watch them, somehow. "It looks like you're doing well for yourself," he said quietly, voice a bit rough.

"Yeah…life isn't easy but it's not bad…I'm sorry I just left like that."

"S'okay," Cyan said. "I understand why you did." He looked at the Draconis, "Your name is Mendel, right?"

"Yes. It is nice to finally meet Sean's best friend, though I wish the circumstances were happier."

"You and me both." He turned back to Sean, "I don't know what to tell you. I told her I'd come find you and try to see that you went to see her. But I know and I think she knew that it would be nearly impossible."

"We will go," Mendel said. "One way or another. Arrangements can be made, we will manage."

Sean blinked at his lover, "Mendel…"

The Draconis stroked his cheek, "What are we supposed to say? No? You would go crazy. So we'll manage." He stood, "But I think perhaps, if the danger is real, we should leave now." He shot Cyan an apologetic look, "I am sorry to have to rush…"

"Don't be," Cyan said bitterly. "It's my damn fault you might be in danger."

"Indeed it is," a voice said from the door.

The three companions whipped around.

"Val," Cyan hissed. "What in the hell are you doing here?"

Val grinned, his bald head gleaming the overhead light. "The crew let me out before you even landed."

"What? Einn--" Cyan couldn't continue.

Sean frowned. "What do you want?"

"Shouldn't that be rather obvious, mutant?" Val's heavy leather boots clomped across the hardwood floor of the dining room, and he recklessly shoved tables and chairs out of his path as he stalked toward them.

"Get away from us," Sean hissed, stepping forward.

Val looked amused, "What are you going to do? Use magics against me?"

"If that's necessary."

"Sean - just go!" Cyan moved to stand beside him, stunner in hand - and set to kill. "Get out of here - can't you just teleport or something?"

"We won't leave you!"

"I'm not the one they want!"

Mendel's voice was full of worry as he spoke, "Sean…"

"What is it?" Sean braced himself as Val drew close.

"Our magics…I can't use them…"

"What are you talking about?" Sean frowned, still not taking his eyes off Val.

Val started to laugh, stopping far enough away that no one could attack him without giving him a chance to defend. "Put the stunner down, Rehab. You can't hurt me with that."

"Oh?" Cyan asked.

"Go ahead and try."

"With pleasure," Cyan fired.

The energy jolt didn't even make Val jump. "Oh, shit." Cyan's voice was a whisper.

"Something isn't right…" Mendel said, drawing closer to the other two.

"Heh. The Lord Alexander has sent along his personal servant to assist me in the capture of the convict Mendel Ekard and his mutant mate."

"…Personal servant?" Sean asked.

"Behind you." Val looked lazy and smug. "It really was too easy for him to keep an eye on you, Rehab."

With a hiss the three whipped around, toward the door at the back that led to the kitchen.

"What in the hell is that?" Sean asked.

The figure was completely black - skin, eyes save for the white around his pupils, hair, nails. He - she? - was short, and stocky. Its build was similar to that of Cyan - short but powerful. It was dressed much like Val, but somber where the human was flashy. It bared its startlingly white teeth at them in something like a hungry grin.

"Tha-that's impossible," Mendel said. "They were wiped out."

"What is it?" Sean asked again. "Is that what's keeping us from using our magics? And why the stunner didn't work?"

"Yeah," Cyan answered in a gloomy voice. "That's a Temperast."

"But they're extinct!"

"Clearly not," Cyan shifted forward. "Take care of Val, Sean. I'll take care of that thing. And whatever you do - don't go near it. Neither of you."

"Okay," without further word Sean launched himself at Val, easily ducking the blast from his stunner before surging up from below to break his nose. But Val was no slouch in hand-to-hand himself, and the two were rapidly engaged.

Cyan felt vaguely sick, and not all of it from the thing he was about to fight.

Though that was most of it. He'd met one before, not long after being promoted to 1st Class. And it had been something he'd never been allowed to share with anyone. There was a long scar trailing up the back of his right lower leg, a run-in with the claws that this Temperast had yet to display. But Cyan wasn't fooled.

Of course, this would be easier with more than one person - it had taken him and two 0 Class Guards to stop the last one, which had been put down not long after arriving on Rehab under greatest secrecy. They were impossible to kill if there were magics-capable for him to feed on. The first one had died as much from starvation as it had from the beating.

Magics were what they fed on; mistakenly created by a race for some lost purpose, they had turned out to be the worst thing to happen to any magics-capable race. Annihilating them had been a nightmare for the people involved. It had finally been done - but a few survived.

Cyan dodged away from the thing's abrupt attack, just missing the claws that left deep marks in the wooden bar top. He caught the thing's wrist as it swung around to get him with a back swing, twisting the arm behind him and sending him to the ground. But the Temperast fought free before he could pin it.

Non-magics were their worst threat; because they could do nothing to impede them, beyond channeling the magic they absorbed to block such things as Stunners - probably why Val couldn't be hit.

He blocked another swing - just barely - and went reeling back, tripping over the edge of a chair and tumbling to the ground. "Fuck!" Cyan braced himself for the attack he wouldn't be able to dodge -

And instead saw a chair crash down hard on the thing's back, crumpling it momentarily to the ground.

He blinked up at Einn. "What in the fuck are you doing? Get away from it."

Einn frowned. "What the hell are you--"

"NOW!" Cyan snarled, launching himself from the ground and shoving Einn hard, back away from the creature, before spinning around to confront it. "That's a Temperast, you dumbass. Get away before it decides to make you lunch!"

Faller kept Einn from protesting further, "Go get Val." He eyed Cyan in the moment before the creature attacked them, "What do we do?"

"Knock it out. Then kill it."

"How do we knock it out?"

"Beat it. They can't stand up long against brute strength without magics to feed on. And if he's shielding Val like I think he is, he's losing his stored magics fast. So as long as we keep him away from the others..."

"Right." Faller didn't wait for the thing to reach them, but launched himself at it, immediately joined by Cyan.

Mendel watched as they all fought, unfamiliar with hand-to-hand combat but ready to utilize his magics as soon as he was able.

They returned to him in a rush, as if they'd been held back. He turned to see that Cyan and Faller had knocked the Temperast out - it was crumbled on the floor, bleeding profusely from a wound on its head.

"Now, Mendel!" Cyan looked desperately at him.

Mendel obeyed, even as Sean protested.

Val sneered at the three left, "How annoying." He looked at Einn, "They didn't kill you like they were ordered to."

"Annoying for you, maybe. I'm rather happy about it."

"Well, this has been a disappointing day. You even took out the Temp, I'm impressed."

Cyan was furious. "What the fuck is going on?"

"You can ask your brother when you see him."

"I have no plans to see him."

"That's too bad, because you're my back up." And Val pressed the button on a switch no one had seen him pull from his pocket.

The blast, had it been much closer, would have killed Einn and Faller. But it had been planted far enough away that the blast merely sent them all diving to the ground for cover.

In the mess of heat and smoke, Val caught Cyan from behind and knocked him out. He dragged the unconscious soldier out, and keyed in the transport number for his ship even as Einn came staggering out of the burning building.

 

Chapter Thirteen

Planet 11181911-3554 (moon of kreska), Private Settlement

"So no one has any idea why they just kidnapped Cyan." Sean raked his hands through his hair, frustrated. "I can guess why they want us," he looked at Mendel. "But I don't understand why Jade wants his own brother."

Einn motioned impatiently, "It doesn't matter. The point is that they took him. We have to get him back."

"We will. But we certainly can't go anywhere right now." Sean looked at him. "We have to wait for Summer, at the very least. And we also need more information than we currently have. I no longer have any idea what game we're playing. Gods, this is turning into a mess."

Mendel pulled Sean closer, stroking and soothing him. "We'll figure it out."

"What exactly is it that you guys are doing?" Faller asked, looking around their office, which was filled with all manner of equipment and files.

Sean and Mendel were silent a moment.

"You've brought us this far," Einn said. "And whatever you're doing has to do with why my crew mutinied and Cyan was kidnapped."

Sighing, Sean nodded and began to explain. Einn and Faller remained silent as he spoke, faces stern as they absorbed all he said.

"I still don't get what Alexander has to do with this."

Mendel shrugged, "Neither do we. Winter mentioned once that he suspected him of some involvement, but he couldn't figure out what. And really - we have no evidence that whatever Alexander is up to involves the Draconis."

"But unless he was after the prestige from finding you - a trifling thing for a Lower Chancellor - he wouldn't seem to have any other reason," Faller pointed out.

"I don't know," Sean bit out. "I just don't. I thought everything was going so well and then Alexander just pulls the rug out from under our feet."

"I think I get what you're saying," Einn said. "But really I don't give a damn about the motives. Cyan's in danger - we have to save him."

Mendel looked at him, "We can't do anything until Summer gets here, as we've already said. He's your only hope of interstellar transport - and the only one that can go into the Infinitum territory without suspicion."

"Assuming that's where they took him," Einn said. He was sitting at a small table in the office that had been cleared of the stuff piled on it. Spread out before him were the pieces of Cyan's stunner, which he was slowly cleaning and repairing, using his own stunner for parts. He frowned at the power unit. "What the hell? This sort of thing is illegal."

Sean looked amused. "Not for Rehab Guards, and Cy never settled for less than the best of anything when it came to his weapons."

"A normal charger won't work with his Stunner…"

"Hang on a minute, I've got a spare that'll work."

Mendel seemed as amused as his partner. "How is it you two found us?"

"We managed to track down Cyan by asking around. Lost the trail for a bit, but then we saw Val and eventually managed to pick it back up. Too little, too late - and remind me to start checking for his goddamn blasters whenever I see him. That's twice now the bastard has done that to me."

Sean returned with the charger, and Einn rapidly finished reconstructing Cyan's stunner. He tucked it into his own holster, then sat back and brought one knee up to tuck under his chin. "So who's this Summer we're waiting for?"

"One very pissed off individual," Sean said dryly. "He doesn't like to interact with the living world more than absolutely necessary. If it wasn't for the fact that he has no damn choice in the matter, he wouldn't be coming."

"Sounds charming."

"I'm not sure we can afford to be picky," Faller reminded him. "So what is the plan?"

Sean's brows rose, "First I want to know once and for all that you two are solid. I don't feel like getting stabbed in the back later."

"He's fretting nonstop because his lover's really been kidnapped, after said lover slugged him and said good riddance, and you doubt our sincerity."

"Faller," Einn glared blackly at his friend. "I hate you."

Sean and Mendel slowly recovered from their laughter. "So why did you work for Jade?"

"It's a long, boring story about being young, stupid, and desperate," Einn said shortly. "It's not worth hearing. It's enough to know that for the past seven years or so we've been attempting to pay off a loan that he increases for whatever penalty he pretends we've committed. Occasionally we've paid it back by way of information or certain items."

"And what does he hold over you, that you'd endure such a thing?"

"Besides our identities? That's plenty; believe me. The shit he could pin on us, we accepted a long time ago we were probably going to be his slaves for life. Until we could figure a way out of it. Guess it's not my problem anymore - at least until Alexander realizes my crew didn't kill us."

Sean stood and moved to his own computers, "Enough. I'm convinced." He slid a vaguely amused glance toward Einn, "Though you'll have to do a lot more than that before Cyan will forgive you."

"I highly doubt forgiveness is forthcoming," Einn said heavily. "It's not like I really deserve it."

Mendel looked thoughtful, "I don't know…he did save you from the Temperast."

One of Sean's screens flicked on. "This is the Brilliant. Approaching 1-3554. Confirming clearance for landing."

"You're cleared for landing, Brilliant."

"Understood. ETA five minutes."

Sean smiled, "Shall we go to the landing bay?"

"That was a weird voice. A talking ship?"

"Something like that," Sean said with another smile. "This way." He led them down a long hallway out into a massive hangar. A few minutes later what looked like a petite version of a merchant-class ship glided gracefully into it. The doors of the hangar slid shut behind it almost soundlessly.

"What in the hell kind of ship is that?" Faller examined it, fascinated. "It's too small to be of much use for transport. It looks like it couldn't even hold the crew needed to pilot it."

A small door on the side slid open, and a metal ramp extended out and down to the ground. Einn examined the figure as he reached the bottom and faced them all in a stony silence - because his delicate features were definitely shaped into an expression of severe displeasure. His features didn't like the expression much - he clearly would look ten times more amazing if he smiled. He looked much like Mendel, except that he had a great deal more scales and his skin matched them - creamy gold to match the slightly darker shade of the scales.

His eyes were the same color, as he turned his glare on the Fornarian.

And then all Einn knew was a searing pain in his head, bad enough to force him to his knees. Distantly he heard a pained cry similar to his own, followed a bit later by several extremely colorful curses. Eventually, he looked up to see the golden Draconis flaying Sean and Mendel alive.

"I'm going to kill you both. Do you hear me? This is why I stayed on my damned ship and away from the breathing! I didn't want this gods damn you all."

Mendel glared at him, gentle voice full of steel. "What were the chances? And it doesn't matter what you like or don't like - it's the natural thing for us, it was going to happen eventually. You can't hide in the stars forever."

"I was happy enough trying. Was I not working hard enough that you had to call me here and inflict me with a match?"

"What," Einn struggled to his feet, still wincing, and tried again. "What in the fuck was that?"

The new Draconis stared at him, his angry expression almost a pout. "We've matched."

"What?" Einn blinked and gaped. Turned to look at Mendel and Sean. "Oh, no. I've heard all about that shit. No fucking thank you. I don't need a damned battery following me around."

"You think I want to be your damned 'battery' rock-climber?" the Draconis spat in reply. "I was perfectly happy with no one that needed me to baby sit them!"

"I don't need a damned babysitter!"

Faller quirked a brow, and looked at Sean and Mendel. He rolled his eyes, "So what exactly is all this? Someone explain it to me." He looked at Mendel, "You look like the most sensible one."

"Do you know much about Draconis?"

"Not really."

"Then I'll start at the beginning," Mendel replied, and proceeded to explain why the newly matched pair continued to bicker and ignore Sean's attempts at placating.

They grew quiet as he concluded his explanation. "At least it means I don't have to date him," Einn said with exaggerated relief. "I'm already sick of him."

"The feeling's entirely mutual, Stick."

Einn shot him a warning glare.

"I think they both need a babysitter." Faller said with a huff of annoyance. "What a horrible fate, to be forced into a partnership that makes you both stronger. I mean, I can see the downsides, but really. This might make it a lot easier for you to save Cyan, you know."

That made Einn pause.

"I still don't see why I've been dragged into this. Rescue missions unrelated to the cause have nothing to do with recon work."

"No, but this rescue mission very much does have to do with the cause," Mendel said in that hard voice again. "And who knows what you'll find out, skulking around Alexander's private property."

Faller frowned, "We still have no real reason to think Alexander would have Cyan taken to his private residence - or even anywhere on Zero."

The Draconis snorted.

"Figure out something useful, Karmikel?" Mendel asked.

"Of course. I'm good at what I do, aren't I?" Karmikel scoffed, "Picked up the trail of a light-jumper leaving from the general vicinity of Kreska. Star Patrols recorded an arrival of ship # 00061225 by light-jump at the outskirts of Parthan approximately two hours later. The ship then continued on its course - to deliver a "special package" to the Lower Chancellor Jade Alexander, who authorized the light-jump."

"Rather bold of him." Faller said.

"The best way to hide is out in the open," Karmikel said. "The Masters estimate we could be there in three days if we use the jump gates -though it'll cost. And we need someone to authorize the jumps."

Sean waved the concern away, "I'll take care of the cost, and Winter will authorize." He led the way back inside. "Now - let's get to work on a plan."

Chapter Fourteen

Planet 00000000 (Zero), Alexander Private Estate

Cyan woke slowly, grasping his surroundings one little piece at a time.

For one brief moment, feeling the soft fabric beneath his hands and cheek, he thought he was in bed with Einn.

Then a voice he'd never wanted to hear again penetrated his mind, and shattered the brief illusion.

It hurt. "Einn…" he opened eyes that felt as if they had lead tied to them. And closed them again, at the sight that met them.

Jade smirked, "Oh, look. He's finally waking up." He turned to Val, "You're dismissed."

Val looked like he wanted to protest, but thought better of it and simply nodded.

"And make sure the Temperast is doing all right. I would be thoroughly displeased if I were to lose him. Those things are difficult to come by."

"Of course, my Lord." Val sketched a half bow and departed.

Jade situated himself on a beige settee, settling his white and gold robes around him. His painted nails looked like golden claws as he drummed them against the back of the settee. "Long time no see, darling brother."

"If you ask me, it's far too soon. Why the hell am I here?"

Jade folded his hands across the back of the settee and leaned on them. He smiled, though it wasn't a pleasant expression. "I missed you, of course. Just trying to keep up family relations and all that."

"Shut up," Cyan snarled as he forced himself to ignore the pain in his head and sit up. "I don't appreciate the mockery so just be quiet."

"And here you call me the hostile one," Jade rose lazily from his seat and approached the bed where he'd had Cyan deposited. "Why not relax, Blue?" he reached out to stroke his brother's hair.

"Don't call me that," Cyan knocked his hand away. "Why am I here?"

Jade sighed, and sat down beside him. Cyan moved back and away, glaring warily at his older brother. "I'm not going to bite you."

"Yet."

Sighing again, Jade smoothed his hair back off his shoulder and turned to regard his younger brother. "Why are you so jumpy? Honestly, I've done nothing to warrant being treated like this."

"Yes, you have." Cyan said. "Why am I here?"

Jade shrugged, "You never did have a sense of humor, Blue."

"Stop. Calling. Me. That." Cyan said through his teeth. "You have no business using that old name."

"One would be hard pressed to tell we're brothers, with this lack of affection."

Cyan lost his temper, "Stop it! There's no one here to impress with your pretty words and face. So just knock it the fuck off, Jade." Glowering, Cyan slid off the bed and made to leave the room.

He got maybe six feet before he was tackled to the floor, and after some struggling pinned with surprising efficiency by the until then frail-looking Jade. "Temper, temper, darling brother mine. You'll catch more flies with honey you know."

"I'm not interested in catching flies. I'd rather catch a snake and cut its head off." Cyan glared venomously at his brother, but made no attempt to break free of the hold - it was futile anyway.

"Oh, is that what I am? A snake?"

"You say that like you're surprised to hear it," he held still as Jade lifted a hand to pet his cheek -then suddenly rake his nails down it, leaving long, angry red welts on Cyan's cheek. A few small drops of blood welled up and trailed down his cheek like tears.

Jade hoisted himself up and off his brother. "Of course I'm not surprised - cowards are always quick to cast stones."

Cyan was silent as he climbed to his feet, ignoring his stinging cheek. "I'm no coward."

"We've had this discussion before," Jade said wearily. "I do not feel like engaging in it again."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"You may as well stop asking, I'm not going to tell you until I feel like it." Jade made a sweeping gesture at the room they were in, "Wouldn't you rather reminisce, darling Blue? It's been over a decade since you were last at home."

"I'm not home now. This stopped being home the moment they died and you turned insane."

Jade lips formed a moue of displeasure, "I really wish you would stop using that word." He smoothed his heavy silk robes, which had crumpled slightly when he'd tackled Cyan. "I am not insane."

Cyan ignored him, once more trying to move toward the door. "I'm not staying here."

"Yes, you are." Jade spoke with calm assurance.

"Not unless you want to tie me down or chain me up. Oh, but wait - you already tried that. It didn't work."

Jade grinned again, the expression as grim and unpleasant as it had been the first time. "The best chains, I've learned since then, are made from emotions."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Cyan paused with his hand on the door.

"If you don't get back in here and do what I say, tomorrow you'll be hearing about the arrest and tragic death of a certain pirate. Oh, but wait - Val did say he blew the place up. So I may have to threaten to kill someone else." He smirked at the choked, pained cries emanating from his brother's throat. "What about that woman Alice? So very ill, I hear. I hope nothing happens to her."

"GODDAMN YOU!" Cyan roared. He let go of the doorknob, sliding to his knees on the floor. "Why can't you just leave me the hell alone? Oh god, is he really dead?" He hugged himself, willing away the world but unable to block out the horrid sound of his brother's smooth-as-silk voice.

Jade shrugged, "How should I know? You and Val survived, it's possible he survived as well. Of course, he never should have made it that far. He was supposed to be killed by the mutiny."

"Mu-mutiny?" Cyan half-whispered. "What the hell did you do? Why?"

"Why? That's a stupid question for you to ask, Blue." Jade resumed his seat on the settee, robes rustling quietly around him. "Why do I do anything?"

"Because you're insane."

Jade sniffed. "Find a different insult, insanity is becoming boring."

Slowly Cyan picked himself up, pale and haunted looking. "Why does Einn work for you?"

"Oh, finally curious about that, are you?" Jade laughed softly, a dark and twisted tone to the sound of it. "He and that arrogant redskin owe me quite a bit of money. I became their friend for a bit, then after they accrued quite the debt from my generous "gifts"…"

"You stabbed them in the back. And they didn't notice until too late that everything they'd done couldn't in any way be pinned on you. I should've guessed."

"Indeed you should have, dearest Blue. But you were always the easiest for me to toy with. I was disappointed you cut off our conversation - I wanted to see the lashing you gave him for betraying your precious trust. It was fun, seeing your face crumble like that."

"I hate you." Cyan whispered. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you."

"As if I care? You were the one who let me down. You've only yourself to blame, dear Blue, for making yourself my enemy."

"I just wanted us to be happy!" Cyan roared. He sank back down onto his bed, trembling with the effort to keep from attacking his brother. "You're the one who won't move on. They're dead - why can't you just accept that and let it go?"

"Because they shouldn't have died!" Jade's cool finally faded, as he rose to his feet and approached Cyan at a near-blinding speed. One gold-tipped, long nailed hand wrapped around his throat, as Jade leaned close to hiss at him, "They shouldn't have died, they shouldn't have died and ruined our lives. You weren't there so don't presume to know better than me. I will make them all pay if I have to leave a trail of blood to do it."

"You--" Cyan struggled with his brother's hand, tears in his eyes as he tried to speak. But Jade gripped his throat tightly, nails drawing blood, and though his brother looked slender and frail, beneath his robes he had a body at least as well-trained and lethal as Cyan's own. "Let--"

"Hmm? What was that?" Jade's eyes glittered, "You'll have to speak more clearly."

Managing to finally squirm around enough to get leverage, Cyan kicked out and sent them both reeling off the bed and crashing to the floor. He rolled away and was away from his brother before Jade could recover. "Bastard," he said hoarsely.

"No, I think not." Jade narrowed his eyes, but remained in place. "Sit down."

"Fuck you."

Jade laughed, "As delectable as you are, all panting and gasping and in pain like that, I think not. I make a point not to fuck anyone who knows me personally."

Cyan shuddered. "That isn't funny."

"I found it amusing."

Ignoring the taunt, Cyan stepped further away, bumping into a tall bureau. "Why did you bring me here? I've got nothing to do with anything."

Jade once more sat down on the settee, examining his nails almost as if he were growing bored. "You are leverage, darling Blue. I would have preferred not to have to resort to something as messy as this, but your proficiency at beating things forced my hand. I was duly impressed you took out the Temperast."

"Leverage for what?"

"I need the mutant. Imagine my surprise when I learned that the person I hate most is best friends with the freak I've been trying to find for several months now."

Cyan went cold. "Sean? What in the hell do you want with Sean?"

"Oh, come now. You think I'm stupid enough to tell you anything? Just stay here and be quiet like the good little coward that you are." Jade patted the space next to him, "Or you can come and tell your big brother all about your life. It's been ages since we spoke."

Cyan just glared hatefully at him. "Is there no one you don't see as a plaything?"

"You should know the answer to that."

"I…yeah, I do. I just keep hoping I'm wrong."

Jade rose to his feet, "You're the one who failed me, Cyan. Don't start acting all whiny and pathetic now - ah, but you've always been that haven't you? Just stay here like the good hostage I know you can be," a malicious grin, "And I'll take care of the rest. If you try anything - all I have to do is say the word and you won't have to worry about illness killing Alice."

In reply, Cyan simply slid to the floor and curled up, dropping his head to rest on his knees. He shuddered at the sound of Jade's icy laughter as his brother left the room.

 

Chapter Fifteen

Planet 11181911-3554 (Moon of Kreska), Private Settlement

"So there's no pressure."

Sean made a face at him. "None at all. And you really aren't funny."

"So I've been told," Winter replied with a smile. "All attempts at humor aside - my job would be a great deal easier if I had a better idea of what I'm looking for."

"Believe me, I would tell you if I could. But we've lost all contact with Fall since her last letter to warn us they were getting too close to her."

The last of Winter's humor faded. "Yes, poor Fall. I hope she is faring well." He fell silent a moment, "I truly had no idea J was so entangled in everything. It makes no sense to me - he's so ambitious. Any ties to magics experimentation would ruin his career and prestige. The man is almost frighteningly meticulous about such things."

"We're as confused as you are. It seems we've just too many missing pieces to put the entire thing together."

They both sighed.

"Incoming call from Spring," Mendel said.

Jundel's face appeared on a screen above Sean's desk, and he started in horror at the image of her pale, shaken face. "Spring! What's wrong?" He felt more than heard as Mendel crossed the space between their desks to stand behind him.

"Mennie, Sean. I-I've got a letter for you." Jundel peered at them anxiously.

"What? Are you all right?" Mendel asked his mother concernedly.

She nodded slowly, and seemed to will herself to calm, though her voice remained somewhat unsteady. "It was hand delivered to me just a few minutes ago, in a plain envelope. It also had a sealed note attached - 'I'm sure you know how to reach them.' I don't like the letter at all."

"What does it say?" Sean requested quietly.

Jundel read it aloud:

To Whom It May Concern:

I am most interested in meeting with a certain Draconis and his mutant mate. Below I have listed a time and place for that meeting. See that the persons in question are there, on time.

Else a certain Blue will not be alive the following day.

Regards
~J

Sean paled. "Go get the others," he told Mendel.

Without a word, Mendel spun and left to go fetch the other three from the back room, where they'd been preparing - noisily - for their pending departure.

Barely a minute passed before the familiar long stride of Einn announced his crashing arrival, as he barely waited for the door to open before tumbling through it. "You can't be serious."

"I've sent you a copy of the letter," Jundel said quietly to Sean. "I assume you know who 'Blue' is then?"

"Yeah," Sean said quietly. "I know who Blue is."

Einn leaned over his shoulder, reading the letter for himself. "He can't be serious," he repeated. "Why does he call him Blue?" he asked, almost as an afterthought.

Sean sat back in his chair, feeling tired. "'Cyan is a shade of blue, though I couldn't tell you what kind of shade. It's something his parents used to call him."

"I can't believe Alexander would threaten to kill his own brother. He's got to be bluffing," Einn said firmly. "It's too sickening to think he might be serious."

"Oh, I think he's serious." Sean closed the window displaying the letter. He looked grim, "Cyan never talked about his brother, really. One or two comments said in passing. I always had this impression that Jade scares him. Though I don't know why. Cyan talked about a lot of things - but never about his family."

"Yeah," Einn said. "I think I get where that impression comes from." He touched the bruise on his cheek that he'd refused to have healed. "He definitely seemed scared the one time I heard him really say much about him." He straightened. "So I guess now we know why he kidnapped Cyan - leverage. He wants the two of you, which definitely means this is all about that research you guys were going on about."

Unnoticed, Mendel had returned with Karmikel and Faller, who were quickly filled in on events.

"That is rather sickening," the forgotten Winter said with quiet anger. "I knew J was not to be trusted, but I am truly dumbfounded that he would stoop to such a measure." He looked pointedly at Mendel and Sean, "You two must not leave your hideout. Under no circumstances must you leave. It is a wonder they have not already found you, given that they were on Kreska. They must still be searching for you in that area; it makes no sense to abandon it. It is entirely possible that the missive is meant exclusively to draw you out. So no matter what - stay put."

Sean frowned, but was prevented from speaking when Mendel dropped a hand on his shoulder. Sean looked up at him, miserable. "So my best friend is in danger, my mother is sick - and I'm just supposed to stay here?"

"Your mother is ill?" Jundel asked. "Explain to me what exactly all of this is about. I hadn't realized I had fallen so far out of matters. Mendel, explain to me."

Mendel nodded and related to his mother what she had missed while locked up in Ministry meetings.

"Hmm…." Sean, I know it isn't easy for you to have to bide your time there…but really you have no choice. If you and Mendel are seen, you will at the very least be arrested. And I needn't mention what the worst outcome could be." She paused to think, pursing her lips. "Leave your mother to me. I will see that she is taken care of. All right? In the mean time, your friends should go immediately to rescue Cyan. With all due haste."

"We were getting ready to leave shortly anyway," Einn said. "But we still don't know exactly where he might be keeping Cyan."

"That one I can actually help you with," Winter said. "Jade trusts no one. He does not even maintain servants in his home, because he wants to maintain complete and total control over it. He would not trust others enough to keep a hostage elsewhere. I am almost certain that his brother would be at the Alexander Estate."

Einn nodded, "Fine. That's good enough of a starting point for me. We're leaving. And you can quit glaring at me, Karmikel."

Karmikel didn't stop glaring, "We can't just leave, Mr. Lovesick. The Masters are still making checks to the system, unless you want to break down in the middle of the stars and miss retrieving your lover."

"If that ship," Einn looked over his shoulder to return Karmikel's glare, "Is so damned brilliant, why do its system checks take twice as long as that of a fucking star-hopper."

"The finer the machine, the more meticulous you have to be." Karmikel sniffed. "Just shut up and stand still and I'll tell you when we're ready to go."

"And I'm not lovesick." Einn paused. "Mate."

Karmikel stiffened, but he kept walking and left the room without saying a word. A second later, grumbling to himself, Einn left to go finish packing. As he and Faller had been dropped on Kreska with practically nothing, they'd had to scramble to purchase or otherwise obtain new supplies and additional clothing.

Faller sighed, and collapsed into an empty seat. "You are not making me travel alone with those two."

"You're welcome to stay here."

For a moment, Faller looked sorely tempted. "Nah. Someone has to rescue Rehab while those two are busy bickering about it."

Sean coughed, and went back to his meeting with Winter and Jundel. Mendel laughed outright as he resumed his own seat.

"Be careful, Winter," Sean said several minutes later. "Its anyone's guess how much Jade might actually know, given how well he's confounded us so far."

"I will take care," Winter said. "Stay hidden."

Sean sighed heavily, and nodded. "I don't like it, but I will. It would be too selfish to do otherwise."

"Then I bid you all good day, and good luck." His screen went dark.

Planet 00000000 (zero), Palace of Eternity

Pyotr sat back in his seat and rubbed his face with his hands, massaging his forehead in a vain attempt to sooth away the headache he could feel forming. "The easier something is to obtain, the more worthless it is." He sighed, "Jade, Jade, Jade - I never knew you were so capable of this." Mechanically he went through the motions of hiding any evidence of his connections with Sean and Mendel.

A knock at the door broke his reverie, "Come in." He unlocked the door

One of his various assistants poked her head in as it slid open, "Lord Li has arrived."

"Of course," Pyotr waved her away. "I will be right there."

"Yes, my lord."

Pyotr rose slowly to his feet and strode from his office, thoughts a mass of ideas, questions and anxieties. He shoved them all away, "Sylvius. As punctual as ever. What is this special meeting you called me about? Even you seldom sound so eager about something."

Sylvius winked, no doubt thinking he looked sly. "I cannot tell you, my dear Pyotr. You shall simply have to come with me and see. I've seen to it both our schedules are cleared for the afternoon."

"Won't you at least tell me where we're going?"

"I'm under strictest orders not to tell you a word." Sylvius said conspiratorially as they reached the private hallways reserved exclusively for the Chancellor's and their assistants, leading the way to the transport bays. "But do you recall what we were discussing the last time we had lunch together?"

Pyotr didn't know whether he should be crowing in delight that his efforts suddenly seemed to be paying off - or worried that he was walking into a trap. He'd been feeding stories and a quiet interest in magics to various ears for several months, with little success until Sylvius finally approached him. But the gangly Chancellor wasn't as gullible as one might initially think.

Now though, it appeared that his cautious efforts were slowly paying off. But was it a trap? The timing was too perfect. But really, it didn't matter - Sylvius was the only lead he had. He would simply have to take extra precautions. "Mmm…yes. I do. How could I forget? Magics still weigh heavily on my mind, what with all the problems I've related to you lately. They're starting to get out of hand."

"Yes, yes," Sylvius interrupted him. "Well, I think we may be able to help you with that - but only maybe. That's what this is about today." He looked at Pyotr, "And I needn't remind you stay quiet."

"Of course," Pyotr murmured.

Nodding, convinced at least for the moment, Sylvius led him onto the first available transport and rapidly keyed in a number. But it wasn't fast enough, because even without watching him directly Pyotr picked out the numbers he punched in.

The Alexander Estate.

Chapter Sixteen

Custom class ship #28922942, the Brilliant

"So what makes your ship so damned special?" Einn asked as Karmikel begrudgingly gave them a tour of his ship. "How do you man it all by yourself? Even as small as this ship is, it still requires a crew."

Karmikel preened, "Not this ship. It takes care of itself."

"How is that possible?" Faller asked.

"These are your rooms," Karmikel said, pointing to two doors at the end of a small hallway. "Take whichever you like, they're exactly the same. Certainly not Captain's quarters…" he looked at Einn.

In response, Einn shrugged. "If you're worried I'm going to try to usurp your authority or whatever, stop. I don't commandeer other men's ships. Though if you try to start getting bossy with me, Battery…"

"Whatever. And my name is not Battery, Stick."

Unnoticed, Faller rolled his eyes. "So explain the ship to us."

"Drop your things first," Karmikel dragged his eyes away from glaring at Einn to look at Faller. "And we can talk on the bridge."

"All right." Faller said before Einn could find something to take offense to.

Several minutes later, things settled in their rooms, the three gathered on the bridge - which was remarkably barren of the usual consoles, seats and screens that were required for a crew to run the ship. Several pieces of machinery were built into the walls, but they were obviously for monitoring rather than controlling. In the center of the room were chairs and a table that could be removed if so required. "What is this?"

Karmikel strolled to the massive strip of special glass that overlooked the rather stark view of space, "Have you ever heard of Live ships?"

"Yeah…" Faller said slowly. "But such ideas were outlawed not long after the Last Revolution on Earth - when artificial intelligence got out of control and it was decided that such things were better left in the past. Live ships were discussed for a while, but in the end considered just as bad - if not worse - than AI."

"Mmm…" Karmikel said. "You're well informed."

Faller shrugged, "Not really. I grew up in a shipyard. You learn things."

"Are you telling us this is a Live ship? But even beyond the questionable ethics of it - no one could design a successful way of integrating man to ship. Every illegal attempt proved futile."

Strands of cream-gold hair fell across Karmikel's eyes as he turned to look at them, "Ah, but there were a great many shipmen and scientists devoted to the cause. A great many who were willing to be patient, and work for it, rather than rush around eager for results. It took them many years, and many trials, and many new generations of scientists." His hands fell away from the glass, and he turned around fully to face them. "But at last they did come up with a solution - and this ship is the result of those decades of effort."

A dead silence greeted his words.

"How does it work?" Einn asked at last.

Rather than Karmikel, a faintly robotic voice spoke up, seeming to come from all over the room, the softer tones of a female. "The main flaw in the original theories was that the task of controlling an entire ship could be done by one person. This was a foolish assumption, and one we were guilty of for a great many years."

Einn and Faller had jumped at the sound of the voice, the Fornarian muttering darkly as Karmikel laughed at them. Faller turned slowly in a circle, finally looking up toward the ceiling. "So there's more than one "person" controlling the ship?"

"Correct," the female voice continued. "Another flaw in the original theories was that one mind could control a full-sized ship. Again, somewhat ridiculous in retrospect. Once this assumption was noted and the mistakes corrected, the task became much simpler."

A male voice continued, the sort of deep voice that immediately relaxed any listeners, "Reducing the size of the ship to a manageable size was the first step; much analysis was conducted before it was determined that a variation of the merchant class ships was the most effective. After that, we restarted the original experiments of melding mind with machine."

As the male voice stopped speaking, another masculine one picked up for him, this one of a slightly higher pitch, sharp and commanding rather than deep and relaxing. "It was determined that one mind, fully engaged in the matter of running a ship, could manage 43.7% of the bare minimum tasks with ease. Anything more simply strained the mind, and the subject was forced to give up."

"So you would need at least three minds working in unison to make it work," Faller said slowly.

"Correct," said the female voice. "Three minds are needed to fully operate a ship of this size. A full-sized merchant vessel would require at least seven minds, and it is roughly estimated that at least three times that would be required to operate an Intergalactic shuttle. War class vessels would require more minds than would be practical."

"And when you say minds…what exactly do you mean?" Einn asked.

Karmikel replied. "It means that when they finally figured out what they had to do, a group of scientists made every preparation they could - and then three of them "died" so that their minds could be transplanted to this ship."

"…That's really morbid." Einn grimaced.

Faller looked torn between being horrified and being impressed. "That's dedication."

"Yes, it is." Karmikel shoved away from the window. "The hardest part was finding suitable minds - you have to have people with extensive knowledge in science, ships, and flying. The three that killed themselves did it because they were literally the only ones qualified."

"And we were happy to do it," the commanding voice said. "We were getting old, and it was our dream to see a Live ship come into being."

Faller nodded, "But what about aging?"

"Don't even get them started on that. They'll talk for ages and right now we've got other things to do." Karmikel waved his hand, "But feel free to shower them with questions later - I certainly don't care. Just don't hurt my ship." He sat down at the table.

Einn followed suit, "So how is it you of all people came by a ship as rare as this?"

"My father was matched to a harbor master," Karmikel said. "And I got to know some of the scientists involved - this ship is only about ten years old. When they "committed suicide" there was a lot of chaos. It was actually given to my father's match, but he died in a harbor accident a few years ago - when they died, the ship was left to me." The bitterness in his voice was impossible to miss.

"And you've just been hiding up here in the stars ever since," Einn asked.

"Yeah," Karmikel said. "So I wouldn't get stuck with the likes of you. For all the good it did me, thanks to Mendel." He crossed his arms across his chest.

"I don't suppose you'd both shut up?" Faller asked sourly. But his words were either unheard, or ignored.

"I'm more likely to get caught saving your ass when it realizes it doesn't know what to do without a ship to baby sit it."

"Like a spoiled captain who was fired by his own crew has any room to talk!" Karmikel surged to his feet, as did Einn, and they both glared at each other over the table. "Why don't you just do me a favor and get us killed sooner rather than later?"

"No. I'd rather see you suffer."

Faller's breath hissed out between his teeth, and red began to cloud his vision as he rose slowly to his own feet - and then slammed his fists down on the table. He was pleased to see they both jumped and fell silent, and used the chance to speak. "Einn, I know it's hard for you to act like a civilized creature when you're this upset - but fucking try. You're getting on my damned nerves with all this bickering. And you," he rounded on Karmikel. "Just because you look like a woman doesn't mean you have to act like one."

Karmikel paused for a single outraged moment - and then launched himself at Faller and started swinging. "I do not look like a woman!"

"Look and act!" Faller taunted, all too happy to encourage a fight.

Einn's laughter didn't help matters, as the two exploded into a fight around the empty bridge. They seemed intent on destroying the entire bridge --

-Until they suddenly found themselves soaked through with cold water.

"That is quite enough," the female voice spoke up. "Honestly. Men. They never change. Get off the bridge until you can behave. You're acting like children, and this when you're supposed to be working out how to save a friend."

"Not my friend," Karmikel muttered.

Faller fingered a bruised eye, "You've got a nice right for someone who hides away on his ship all the time."

Karmikel made a face, "I haven't always lived on this ship. I told you - I grew up in a shipyard too."

"That would explain how you knew all my tricks," Faller said with a begrudging smile.

"Ha!" Einn said with satisfaction. "It's about time someone was able to get around your cheats." He looked at Karmikel, "I guess you might almost be useful."

"I live to serve," Karmikel snarled, turning away to stalk from the room.

"Hey!" Einn glared at his back. "I was just joking. Why the hell do you get so snarly whenever this stupid match thing comes up?"

The Draconis almost didn't reply, at the open door before he finally spoke. "Because I never wanted to be that responsible for someone's life. Or someone else for mine." He left.

Faller frowned, "What's he not telling us?" He looked at Einn, "You really need to stop acting like a damned child. What the hell is with you?"

"I don't like him being forced to shadow me anymore than he does. It's stupid - whoever came up with the idea was an egotistical moron."

"That would be all of the Coni," Faller said dryly.

The female voice spoke up again, "Are you well-acquainted with the Draconis crisis?"

"You mean the struggle over what's to be done with them?" Einn asked.

"Correct."

"Yeah. Some want them killed, other's want them 'fixed' and on and on it goes because no one will make a decision and others are doing things they shouldn't be doing."

"And are you aware of how the Draconis feel about all of this?"

"They want their freedom, don't they? That's what Mendel and Sean are working on."

"Incorrect," the voice replied.

"How do you mean?" Faller asked.

"Many Draconis want freedom; but not all of them. A great many of the Draconis believe that their proper role is as energy. They feel that those such as the Lady Jundel are out of line, and rejecting their roles in life."

A pause. It was Faller who spoke first, "That's rather depressing. I can't imagine having a mindset like that. 'My only purpose is to make some unknown individual more powerful' - I couldn't live like that."

"Karmikel's mother and most of his relatives believed just such a thing. They could not understand why Karmikel and his father wanted something different. That is why the Lady Jundel has such a difficult task - not only is she trying to persuade the Conis and the Infinitum, but she must also sway her own people."

"Why are you telling us this?" Faller asked. "He's just going to get mad at you."

"And do what?" the woman asked, amused. "We control this ship, and I will do whatever is necessary to ensure the ship's safety and that of its passengers. I do not want another fight like the one that just erupted. If I must relate Karmikel's past to ensure that order is maintained, I will do so."

Faller snorted, "I wonder what other lengths you'd go to."

"Let us hope you never have to find out."

Laughing, Faller raked back his dripping hair. "Do you three have names? And I'm going to guess you do most of the speaking?"

"Correct - I am the primary "captain" of the ship. Clearly men can't be trusted with the task - the other two were placing bets on the fight."

"What in the world do brains bet on?" Einn asked with a laugh.

"Who gets stuck with maintenance work for the next month," the deeper male voice replied. "It's dreadfully boring work. More fun to do navigation and the lot."

Einn grinned, "Do you three have names?"

"Victoria," the female said.

"Henry," the deep voice said.

"Charles," said the commanding voice.

"Nice to meet you," Einn said, before turning and sauntering out to go get dry.

Faller lingered, hesitating over questions he wanted to ask.

"You should probably dry off first - I am sorry to have gotten you wet." Victoria said apologetically, though amusement laced her voice.

"Don't be," Faller said with a sigh. "I deserved it. Bad enough they act like children, I shouldn't have let myself be dragged into it."

"Then why did you?"

Faller grinned for a brief moment, "I wanted a fight - and he fights well, for a magics reliant."

He could swear he heard Victoria chuckling before she spoke, "Well, go dry off and get warm. And you can speak to us from anywhere on the ship - the bridge is mostly a convenience for passengers. So get where you are comfortable, and away from the children, and we'll tell you all about the ship." Her voice turned mischievous, "And I'll give you stuff to use against 'Kel when he gets out of line."

"Sounds like fun," Faller said with another brief smile. "Perhaps by the time you've finished, the other two will have cooled down and we can get to work."

"If not, we'll force them to cooperate."

"I like the way you think, Victoria."

"I can see we'll get along famously."

 

Chapter Seventeen

Planet 00000000 (Zero), Alexander Private Estate

Pyotr was unsurprised to see no sign of Jade as he was escorted down what was, to Sylvius' mind no doubt, a hallway unknown to Pyotr.

He wasn't that lazy a spy. Perhaps he was mostly just a politician now, but he hadn't climbed this high up the ladder by being lazy. Not too long ago he'd traveled these halls for reconnaissance, for just such an eventuality as this. Perhaps nothing would happen - but in his line of business coincidence was another word for trap.

"Just in here, Pyotr."

Silently Pyotr followed him inside a room lit only by a few candle-lights - small electric lights meant to resemble candles of old in appearance and the soft, orange glow they emanated. Seated around a large, round table were a few familiar faces. The last of the four Lower Chancellor's, the only woman of the four of them, and three leaders of various High Councils - those directly beneath the Lower Chancellors. None of these faces surprised him; he'd fished around them before but had decided in the end - and correctly it seemed - that Sylvius was his best bet.

But one figure did surprise him. A middle-aged woman with graying hair, thin, pinched features, and a tendency to always frown and never smile. She was Master Secretary to the High Chancellor, the man in charge of the four Lower Chancellor's, and one step below the highest man in the government - the Grand Chancellor. If his Master Secretary was here…he too was interested in magics and the Draconis, and that was something Winter had not expected.

Tampering with magics was universally a bad idea for humans. There had always been those who wanted magics capability, but most realized that humans were powerful because they lacked that capability. If the second highest man in government was interested in this strange meeting…

…Pyotr didn't like it. He really wished he better understood what was going on. Well, when in doubt…"So what's going on here?"

The fourth Chancellor, a friendly, boyish looking, red-skinned woman, chuckled warmly at him. "Ah, Petya. Always so direct. But surely it's obvious."

"The only thing obvious is that this is an awful lot of us who are interested in magics."

Laughter around the table, "If you're here, Pyotr, you must agree that we humans are at a severe disadvantage for lacking them."

"I wouldn't say that necessarily."

One of the High Council flapped his hand impatiently, "Don't play around. This is not the place for it. I know all too well what it's like to throw non-magics soldiers into battle against magics capable. And isn't that what you're here for, my friend?"

"Yes," Pyotr said slowly. "But is this safe?"

"We're just talking," the female Lower Chancellor said. "Sit down, Petya. And talk."

"As you wish, Raquesha." Pyotr took a seat at the table, folding his hand neatly across the top in front of him. "So what exactly are we talking about?"

"Giving humans magics," Raquesha said.

"That's impossible. And foolish," Pyotr said. "If we have magics, we lose our authority."

"Ah," Sylvius spoke up, "But we don't mean to give humans magics directly."

"So you want to give us magics indirectly? How do you accomplish that?" Pyotr looked around the table, disbelieving.

"Surely you're not that oblivious to all the talks going on? As thorough as you are, Petya?"

Pyotr paused briefly, as if too stunned to immediately speak. "Surely you're not implying the Draconis?"

A gleeful, gloating silence was all the answer he needed.

"So the rumors of illegal experimentation are true then? I had not thought anyone was that foolish."

"But you hoped."

Pyotr nodded, "But I hoped."

"As I implied earlier, Pyotr," Sylvius smiled at him, "This is the key to what you want."

"Indeed."

"It is, I assure you." Sylvius leaned forward in his seat, face alight. "Our scientists have confirmed that we can engineer the Draconis to mate with Devastators -think how much of an advantage that would give us in battle. The Devastators would be unstoppable, even against non-magics."

Again, Pyotr only nodded. "So why am I here today?"

"We wanted to ascertain your interest for ourselves. We hadn't expected the upstanding, hardworking Lord Kavalerov to be interested in something as…possibly damaging as this." Raquesha smiled at him, her look questioning and inviting.

Pyotr shrugged his wide shoulders, "We all have our weaknesses. I am growing weary of being outmanned by the magics-capable in everything. It's true, what I said before - our power lies in our inability to use magics."

"But it impedes us in everything else," Sylvius finished for him. "Exactly. We've been watching you for some time. Our leader finally decided it was time to take this next step."

"And why is that?"

"Various reasons," Sylvius said. "Though for one, endeavors such as this are not cheap. And we can only play with our funds to a certain degree. The more, the merrier, as they used to say."

"Mmm…" Pyotr narrowed his eyes. "And just who is this leader? I don't like the idea of being lead by an unknown."

"You're actually about to meet him - if you want to come with me? This," Sylvius swept the room with his arm, "Was just an initial meeting. We'll get down to business at a different location, where we can more safely communicate with the research lab."

"Very well," Pyotr said calmly, though inside he was anything but. It all seemed…too easy. What was going on? In silence, he bid his farewells to the gathered officials and followed Sylvius from the room, reaching the end of the long, wide hallway and turning onto a smaller one. Sylvius stopped in front of a door and knocked, paused, then opened it and motioned Pyotr inside.

The door closed quietly behind him, as Pyotr took in the man sitting at a table in the far corner of the room, a light meal spread out and an empty chair waiting. "Jade."

"Oh, don't tell me you're surprised, Pyotr. I would be most disappointed in you."

Pyotr smiled, "Of course I'm not surprised. But I am confounded as to your reasons for all this pomp and circumstance secrecy stuff."

"Ah, but the matter of magics is no small one. Every human born with magics is killed, and those caught tampering with our genetics - or anything else even remotely related to humans and magics - is given not much better a fate. It might be a trifle ridiculous, Pyotr, but I am highly interested in staying alive and powerful."

"I guess it was rather a ridiculous question." Pyotr laughed, still hovering near the door.

Jade motioned him to sit with pink-tipped fingers. "Sit, eat. There is something I want to discuss with you."

"Which would be? I should think by this point I've passed any tests or whatnot."

"Indeed," Jade smiled, an eerie, smug smile. "They're prize idiots, are they not? Kids thinking they've managed to commit some mischief under the noses of their parents." He sipped at a cup of tea, "They think they know everything, when really they know nothing at all."

Pyotr looked amused, "I wondered where your contempt had gone. Good to see it's still there. And why am I exempt from it this time?"

"Because you're at least as devious and ambitious as I, dear Pyotr - you just use different methods."

"I am? How, pray tell, did you come by that belief?"

That eerie smile appeared again, "Why, because you work for Internal Affairs, dear Pyotr."

Only years of practice at remaining calm when surprised kept Pyotr from choking on his own tea. "What in the stars makes you think that?"

"Pyotr, Pyotr," Jade sighed and set his tea aside, fingers reflexively smoothing his dark pink and gold robes. "You are clever, and intelligent, and very good at what you do." He looked up, eyes hard. "But nothing gets by me. I wouldn't be where I am if things got past me. I know you are far more than you appear - far, far more. Like me, you've risen to far too fast to have done it via normal routes. The IG just doesn't work that way. Your questions of late? Your interests? The rest of them might be stupid, but I am not. You have no interest in magics or the Draconis - except to discern what our interest is. The only thing eluding me so far is who exactly you're working for. But I'm almost perfectly convinced it's the Internal Affairs Office. I can't see you doing something so risky as freelance work."

"Don't think me the good Samaritan, eh Jade?"

"No."

"Then I guess it would have to be IA."

"So I am right?" Jade sat back in his seat, "Excellent. Now of course the conversation becomes tricky."

Pyotr resumed sipping his tea, "Simply lay all your cards on the table. If you worry I'll go running to my superiors, you are mistaken. I…have my own rules, you might say."

"That is what I was hoping to hear. You never struck me as a stupid man."

"Naturally not. I am where I am because I know when to talk, what to say, and to whom I should say it. Not because I play the good little soldier to everyone."

Jade laughed delightedly, "I would be suspicious of such good news - except I've been keeping an eye on you for so long because I suspected just such a thing."

"So what is it you want from me, Jade?"

"Simply this - I don't give a damn about magics and the like. I have my own reasons for all of this, but I'll need help from someone of authority to help me bring them to a finish."

"Go on," Pyotr said.

"Tell me," Jade nibbled at a small bit of a purple-colored fruit. "Did you see anyone interesting at the table?"

"You mean the Master Secretary."

"Precisely. That, my friend, is the first nibble of the fish I want to catch on my hook."

"How am I supposed to help you ensnare the High Chancellor?"

"You're not. That is what Sylvius and his fellow idiots are for. That's what all of this is for. What I need from you is to make sure you will 'catch' them after the HC has finally been drawn in. And that I am left out of the raid."

"Jade…I hardly think you need me for that. Knowing you, you've already made well sure that your role in all of this is untraceable."

"Oh, I have. For the most part." Jade frowned at something only he could see, clearly disturbed by some memory. "But certain events have gone awry of late, and have forced me to take a more active, visible role. You I have invited in to make doubly sure that I am absolved of all of this when it's over."

"Angling to become Grand Chancellor some day?"

Jade grimaced, "Of course not. I have more power as a Lower Chancellor than I do as an officious figurehead. Perhaps High Chancellor, but that is not what this is about."

"Then what is it about?"

"That is my concern," Jade said firmly. "But never fear, dear Pyotr. You will be well compensated for assisting me."

Pyotr nodded, "I had better be. As you said, I don't generally waste my time on freelance stuff. I prefer my time be lucratively spent."

"Naturally," Jade murmured. "It is nice to see an intelligent face among the crowd. Now, let us move on to lighter things. Meals are meant to be enjoyed, and heavy talks prevent that. Afterwards, I will show you in more detail what the others are hoping to achieve."

"Sounds like an excellent plan."

 

Chapter Eighteen

Custom class ship #28922942, the Brilliant

"What a wonderful meeting sight," Karmikel glowered out of the one-way glass stretched across the front of the bridge, and the planet they were slowly approaching. "The ruined remains of a Zero moon. I'm really disliking this Alexander."

"You're only starting to dislike him now? The rest of it doesn't bother you at all?" Einn asked him, outraged.

"Of course it bothers me. I'm just saying - this doesn't help his case any. Why couldn't he pick a more attractive spot to double cross us?"

"I thought we were double crossing him," Faller said, standing on Einn's right, placing the Fornarian in the middle of the three.

"Does it really matter? Why are we even bothering with this? Wouldn't it make more sense to go steal back Cyan while they're waiting for us here?"

Einn shook his head. "No, because the second we're late they'll give the order to kill him, and we need more time if we're going to find him. If everything goes to shit here, Jade won't kill anyone until he knows what's going on."

"So we cause trouble here and then hightail it to Alexander's place? Sounds questionable at best."

"Well, you've had the past two days to come up with something better," Einn reproved. "It's not like we've got a whole lot of options. If we upset the order, it'll give us an opening."

"Just so long as you don't manage to get us killed here," Karmikel groused.

Einn rolled his eyes, "I've survived a lot worse than this."

"Only because Cyan shoved you out of harm's way," Faller muttered beneath his breath. He stared at Einn blankly when he turned to glare at him. "What?"

"Shut up, Lark."

"Hmph. You should be grateful he did it, if even half of what I've learned about those Temperast things is true."

Karmikel frowned and turned away from the window to look at them, "I still find it hard to believe you guys fought one of those. They're extinct now."

"Not all of them, apparently. Creepiest fucking thing I've ever seen," Einn grimaced at the memory. "And nothing I want to see again. Hopefully the damned thing died in the fire. Though I'm sure his grace the Lord Alexander can get more - wouldn't put it past the bastard."

"Ship approaching," Henry spoke up suddenly in his deep voice.

"What?" the three men asked together, turning around.

Einn frowned, "How far away? What direction?"

Henry rattled off a string of coordinates, "Approximately twenty minutes away."

"How is it you're only noticing now?"

"Superior cloaking."

Karmikel sighed, "Any information available on the ship?"

Victoria took over speaking, as Henry vanished to see to other matters, "Merchant class vessel, lightly armed, serial number 00061225."

Einn and Faller went cold. "The Dragonfly," Einn hissed. "Those fucking bastards. I'm going to kill them."

"Not if I get to them first," Faller muttered. "What in the hell?"

Karmikel snorted, "I'm guessing they never intended for us to land."

"How do they even know we're the ones they're after?"

"I can't imagine many ships come out to the ruins of Zero's second moon, and this close to the time of the arranged meeting."

"The Dragonfly is demanding to speak to the captain of the vessel," Victoria spoke up, a trace of laughter in her voice.

Karmikel shook his head, amused. "Take care of it, Vicky."

"Of course," Vicky fell silent as she and her partners fell to dealing with the pirate ship, opening the channels so that the three could hear the exchange.

Einn motioned to the three of them, looking at Karmikel in question.

Karmikel eyed him for a moment, then his confusion cleared. "They can't hear us, no. We can talk just fine."

"So no one has any clue that this ship is being run by three brains? That must be handy for you."

"It's great - these guys can even mess with heat sensors and all in IG ports, so it looks like the ship is fully manned."

"What about onboard inspections?"

Karmikel shook his head, "I've got the proper licensing to avoid such things. That and I seldom land in places where inspections would be necessary." He shrugged, "Not that it really matters - technically this ship isn't illegal. The matter was dropped, but no one took the steps to actually make it against the law."

"But it's easier if no one knows the truth anyway."

"Exactly. Maybe these three volunteered for it, but that wouldn't always be the case if more of these ships were to be built. And that doesn't bear--"

Victoria interrupted the discussion, "Captain and first mate of the Dragonfly boarding via transport in three minutes. Shall I direct them here?"

"No, we'll do this in the transport room. Be ready for an emergency though, Vicky. These people aren't to be trusted at all."

"So I gathered," Victoria replied dryly. "Appropriate measures have been taken. If you can keep them talking long enough, Henry and Charles will see to it the Dragonfly is disabled."

Einn was thoughtful as he pulled his stunner from its holster and thumped the power to it's second to highest level. "I'm more concerned with their being able to communicate with Alexander."

"Disabling communications is child's play," Charles interjected. "We've had years to perfect ourselves. We know what we're about, and we know the plan. Don't underestimate us. A ship we may now be, but we're human - not computers."

"No offense intended," Einn replied with a grin. "Just that old habits take a while to die." He fell silent and palmed open the door to the transportation room, even as two figures materialized on the transporters.

And froze. Then slowly, reluctantly, backed away.

Faller stepped forward instead, warning back Karmikel with a glare that brooked no argument. "I might've known you'd show up. Was Alexander too much a coward to come himself?"

"Lord Alexander's a busy man," Val said casually. "He doesn't have time to be picking people up."

"So he sends a scumbag and a monster?" Faller tensed, eyeing the black Temperast behind Val with trepidation. "Why isn't that thing dead?"

"The Temp? They're pretty hardy creatures. You should've been more thorough last time. Because you'll never beat it alone - and those two are useless now. And he's mighty hungry. So I suggest you stop being a nuisance and tell me where the Draconis and his little mutant are."

"Not here," Einn said with relish. "About as far from here as you can get. Did you actually think we were stupid enough to bring them with us? You forget - you're the dumbass. Not us."

"A pity then. Your lover is going to die now." Val reached up to activate the comm unit in his ear - and frowned. "What the hell?"

Victoria's voice echoed in the small room, "Communications successfully disabled."

"Enemy ship successfully disabled."

"What!" Val roared. "How is that possible?"

"Insufficient security measures permitted the overriding of Dragonfly computer systems by the Brilliant. Your ship is now under our command. I suggest you cooperate, Captain Val. Unless you and your crew want to end this meeting deceased."

"What the hell?" Val glared around for the source of the voice, "You have AI running your ship? That's even more illegal than the shit we're up to."

"There's no AI on this ship," Karmikel said. "Vicky, could we put an end to this? That thing is making me ill." Stepping back, he latched onto the backs of Einn's and Faller's shirts and dragged them with him. Val and the Temperast moved to follow, but the door slid shut and locked in place before they could make it.

"And here I thought I'd get a good fight in," Faller said, disappointed.

"Save it," Karmikel turned back toward the bridge. "People that damned stupid aren't worth wasting a bad punch on, never mind a good one." He sneered at Einn, "That's your precious Dragonfly? Even the Brilliant should have taken more than two minutes to hack into it."

"That was Lark's job," Einn glanced at his friend. "Without us to man things - because I highly doubt Val knows anything about running a ship or he would have had half the crew board us and attack rather than coming along with just the Temperast- the Dragonfly is worthless as a pirate ship. I'm amazed they haven't been caught yet."

Victoria was chuckling as she spoke up, "That will be rectified as soon as other matters are concluded to our satisfaction. Altering course and proceeding full speed for Planet Zero. Arrival in thirty five minutes, and we've been cleared for transport entry."

"So what are we going to do with Val and the Temp?" Einn asked. "We can't just leave them in the transport room."

Karmikel moved back to the glass, staring down at Zero as they approached it. "Wait a few more minutes, for them to pump air back into the room. Then we can go in and drag them out, lock them in the brig."

"And if they wake up in the meantime?"

"They won't," Victoria reassured them. "And once they're in the brig, we'll keep them sleeping. Though if our readings are correct, the Temp will likely die of starvation if he is not fed in three days time."

"Just three days?"

"Yes," Charles' voice appeared. "Temperast require great amounts of 'food' to sustain themselves. Normal bodies need food, nutrients and the like to live. Temperast survive on magics, and they burn through them quite quickly - especially if they're as active as this one obviously is. They literally live on the energy of others. And energy burns quickly. It is likely how they get it to listen to them - starving it, and providing it with food."

"I almost feel bad for it," Einn said.

"Do not feel too sorry for it," Charles said firmly. "A mere two thousand of them nearly wiped out an entire planet. I'm amazed there is one alive - and if there's one, there must be more. It would seem Draconis are not the only thing being experimented upon."

Faller made a face. "You almost sound surprised."

"More like disgusted really. At least researching how to make a Live ship never hurt anyone or anything. And the three of us volunteered for this last step. Scientists have to do things that most humans would steer clear from - but even for us there should be a limit."

Karmikel's voice was bitter, as he replied to Charles' comments without bothering to turn around. "It isn't the scientists that have been the jerks in all this - they do the dirty work, but they still need money and someone to pay them for the work. Hundreds of politicians around the stars are arguing right now about what's to be done with me. Not a single one of them have bothered to ask me how I feel. And back home far too many of my relatives are all too content to exist as fucking batteries. So as much as I hate the ones trying to rebuild us, I'm more interested in the bastards that are paying them to do it."

"Well," Einn said into the heavy silence that followed Karmikel's tirade, "Another thirty minutes or so and we'll be on our way to stopping one of the men at the top of all of it."

"We'll see. Just because we know Jade is involved, doesn't mean we can prove it," Faller cautioned. "Somehow I doubt he's that easily caught. Besides, this is a rescue operation. Not a 'catch the bad guys and save the day' operation. And you also seem to be forgetting, Einn, that so far as most of the world is concerned, we're also bad guys. So save the catching of other bad guys to the men that won't be arrested alongside him."

"Take all my fun away."

"You've never been inclined toward heroics before, why start now?"

"Because Karmikel sounds so damn morose, I had to say something to cheer him up before we all became glum."

"Are you making fun of me?" Karmikel asked in a low, unpleasant tone.

"No," Einn said. "You really did sound more downcast that you usually do. It affects the magics, thereby affecting me. So fucking cheer up before we both decide to plunge our heads into that glass and go on to a better, undoubtedly more boring existence."

"You think the afterlife would be boring?" Faller asked.

"Well," Einn said very seriously. "I seriously doubt I'd be allowed to do half the shit I do now. Which strikes me as boring."

"Oh, shut up." Karmikel rolled his eyes.

"Stop moping then."

Faller glared in warning at them both, "Save the fighting for later." He rose to his feet, "Victoria, is it safe to move our two guests yet?"

"Quite safe. And we'll be approaching Transport distance in approximately twenty-five minutes, so I suggest you do it quickly."

Karmikel sighed, "Has our contact been reached?"

"Winter has been reached and plans confirmed."

"Right then," Einn said. "Let's go."

Chapter Nineteen

Planet 00000000 (Zero), Alexander Private Estate

"You look so unhappy, Blue." Jade clucked reprovingly at his brother. "Really, such a face you make. So uncalled for. Especially as in a very short while you will be free to go."

Cyan looked warily at his brother from where he was curled up in a chair by a sealed off window, an electronic book forgotten in his lap. "And why are you bothering to say something like that? We both know very good and well that you're not going to just let me leave. I'm not stupid."

"Personally, I think you're very stupid. And cowardly. And foolish and weak." Pink nails flashed brightly as he held his fingers to his lips, suppressing his own laughter. "Don't like what I have to say, Blue?"

Sighing, Cyan set his book aside and stood so that Jade couldn't trap him in his seat. "Better a coward and a fool, Jade, than the monster you've become. Though personally," he mocked, "I think you've always been a monster."

"What would you know? Mom's precious little boy who could do no wrong, and was so sweet and nice to everyone, so generous and easy with his smiles."

"Come off it," Cyan said in disgust. "That's as untrue as all your other flights of fancy. So maybe I was the doted upon little kid - you were their damn shining star and everyone knew it. If you're going to bitch about me, at least find something real to complain about."

"You mean like the fact that you're a coward?"

"You keep calling me that - does that we mean you're in the mood to rehash the old argument?" Cyan moved to the side and away as Jade stalked toward him. "I thought it bored you."

"It does, but you anger me more than it bores me. You walked out on me, walked out on mom and dad!"

Anger began to override Cyan's fear of his brother, "I didn't walk out on them! You're the one who's betraying their memory, not me."

"Yes," Jade sneered. "I'm betraying them. I'm not who changed my name, and left home to hide away in Rehab to avoid doing what I should be doing."

"I'm not hiding, damn you! Why can't you understand that?" Cyan was as miserable as he was angry. "Mom and dad just wanted us to be happy. Do you think you're happy like this? Living your whole damn life for revenge? And what do you plan on doing when you're done? Tell me that!"

"Like you have reason to lecture me. Just admit it, Cyan! You slunk off because you're too much of a damned coward to help me hunt down their killers. And you slunk off to Rehab to make yourself feel better."

"No I didn't!"

"YES!" Jade snarled back, "You did. You could have done anything with your training, but instead you went to hide away and watch over prisoners because you're too much a coward to become a merc, or an officer, and track down the criminals themselves. You could have done either of those, and been commended for it. Instead you're just a pissy little guard, doing the easy job and leaving the catching and sentencing to others. Just admit it."

"So what!" Cyan roared miserably. "Mom and dad wanted us to be happy. How often did they say that? With their meetings and parties and myriad obligations. They didn't want us to get dragged into it unless we wanted - over and over they told us to do what we wanted, to be happy. Sure," he raked a hand through his hair. "I could have stayed and helped you. I could have been a merc or an authority and hunted down bad guys - but I didn't want to. I'm no hero, and as much as I wish we could have found their killers - what kind of life is that? Dad and mom told us over and over and over again - do what makes us happy. So what if that's what I chose to do? It that's what makes me a coward, then fine. I'll be a fucking coward."

"Funny, you don't look so happy."

"That's because you've succeeded in making my life quite miserable," Cyan said dully as Jade drew close, not even resisting as his brother manhandled him, nails biting painfully into the still-healing wounds on his neck. He stared into his brother's eyes, "You're trying to hurt my best friend, you've already killed my lover," he choked on the word, voice full of pain, "You're threatening Alice and you're probably going to kill me before the day is out. You're all the family I have left, Jade. And every day something forces me to remember that you hate me. I was as happy as I could be, and now you've taken all that from me."

"You could just stop being a coward and help me. If you'd quit being stubborn, we could be family again. And I wouldn't have to kill you."

Cyan gasped briefly in pain at the force of his brother's. "You could give up your scheming and be my brother again. You're never going to find their killer - why not let it rest?"

"Because I have found their killer, you little fool."

Cyan went still. "W-what? How? Who?"

"Cohen did it."

Already pale from pain, Cyan faded to a ghostly white. "That. That. That can't be, Jade. You've got to be mistaken."

Impatient with the protests, Jade threw his brother to the floor, waiting until his coughing had subsided to speak. "I'm not mistaken. I've checked over and over again. And then I repeated the process."

"But that just can't be…" Cyan looked up his brother, horrified and still pale. "Gory did it? No! NO! I refuse to believe that. You're just toying with me." He shuddered. "Gory was dad's best friend. There's no way he killed them."

Jade stared at his brother dispassionately, "Believe it. The High Chancellor is a back stabbing bastard, and I'll do whatever it takes to bring him down - including killing you, if that's what it takes."

Cyan shuddered again, "Killing me isn't necessary. You just can't stand the thought of me around because I betrayed you almost the same as Gory has apparently betrayed our parents." He looked at Jade, "Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

"I am positive."

"Then just…just…" Cyan looked as if it hurt to speak. "Just let it go, Jade."

Jade narrowed his eyes.

"Please. Exacting revenge on Gory won't bring mom and dad back. It won't change or improve or solve anything. He'll get his eventually - why waste your life on it? If you have evidence, turn him in. Just let it go." He gasped in pain, but didn't fall from his kneeling position, as Jade backhanded him.

"How dare you say such a thing. And here I came to give you one last chance to see reason."

"I'm not the one who needs to see it."

"Indeed. Well - all traitors deserve to die. If I don't hear from Val in another hour or so - you'll be the first traitor I kill. And you can see your lover in hell, and if the mutant doesn't show up shortly thereafter - Alice will be joining you as well." Jade eyed his brother one last time, then turned on his heel and strode toward the door.

"How? Why?" Cyan asked. "You have to tell me that much."

"I don't have to tell you anything," Jade said coldly, pausing. "And do you really have to ask? As long as father was around, Cohen was only ever going to be second best. I guess he decided that wasn't good enough." He resumed walking.

"So what are you going to do to him?"

Again Jade paused, turning to look at his brother. "I'm going to ruin him. Ruin his position, his power, his standing - his life. He'll be tried for everything, and stew in Rehab the rest of his life. And while he's in there stewing, I'll ruin the rest of his family and friends, so he can hear about it and suffer that much more. I'm going to make his life the living hell mine has been since he ordered mom and dad killed. It's a pity you couldn't just stay where you were - you might've gotten to be the one that locked him away. Hell - you might have even been one of the team to go in and remove some of the criminal elements holed up in that godforsaken rock you worked on, after they get 'caught' by the IG. But I guess we'll never know."

"What?" Cyan asked, confused.

"Nothing. Now, I'm going to go see if Val has successfully retrieved your friend and his Draconis. If they're anything like you, they should be waiting for me."

"No!" Cyan was suddenly a blur of motion. "You can't - what do you want with them? Damn it, Jade!" He latched onto his brother before he could leave, jerking him back into the room.

And earned an angry Jade for his trouble. His brother wasn't typically given to violence - but for Cyan he'd ever made an exception. "You forget yourself, Blue." Jade deflected blows that had crumpled more than a few uncooperative prisoners, lashing out with several of his own, nails raking down one bared arm, as Cyan had earlier stripped down to a tank-top. "I'm the one that first taught you to fight," he feinted, then spun and slammed down hard on the back of Cyan's head.

He dropped like a rock to the floor, and Jade dragged him back to the bed. Smoothing his robes and tidying his hair, making sure the dark pink ribbon securing his long braid was still neatly in place, Jade cleaned his nails on a handkerchief as he stalked from the room.

Outside, he paused to reinsert his In-lens. His brother's room had been shut off from any form of communication and most devices - even stunners wouldn't work in the dampened room. And the power keeping his room lit was from an independent source, so even that could not be tampered with. Which Cyan had no doubt discovered, a thought that made Jade smile.

He'd hoped Cyan would see reason, but hadn't actually believed he would. People couldn't change their natures, after all. And his brother's nature was that of a cowardly fool.

So be it. He was the last worthy Alexander.

Jade stalked down the hallway, completely oblivious to the lush trappings of his once happy family home. Once friends and guests and servants had strode these same halls; the house had seldom been completely empty.

They were empty now; Jade had permitted little beyond momentary visits. Most of the time, his house was empty, and cleaned by special robots under his exclusive control. The house might be cold and empty, but it was safe and controllable, and that was far more important.

He frowned, flicking through messages for one from Val. He'd told the man he would be out of touch for a while, and that he should leave a message. Nothing. Jade took a left at the end of the hall, going into the eastern wing of the house rather than downstairs as he'd originally intended. Something had gone wrong, and he was none too pleased about it.

Striding into the communication center, he took a seat at the main console and punched up the Dragonfly, sending a request to speak - he avoided speaking live as much as possible.

No answer.

Jade frowned, and punched a button to speak. "Dragonfly, this is base. Answer me."

No reply.

Then a woman's voice spoke up, "I'm sorry, the Dragonfly is currently unable to respond."

"Who is this?"

"Victoria, of the Brilliant."

Jade snarled and cut off communications. "What's going on here?" He punched in a new series of numbers on the console, waiting impatiently for Val to pick up his private comm unit. But there was no reply.

Surging to his feet, Jade abandoned the communications room and strode back the way he'd come. "Bastards. I'm not that stupid." His fingers went immediately to the stunner hidden beneath his elaborate-looking thigh-length robes, then moved to touch the knife also stowed away out of sight. "A rescue mission is it? We'll just see."

 

Chapter Twenty

Planet 00000000 (Zero), Alexander Private Estate

His robes flapped and rustled as he walked rapidly back to the room where Cyan was being kept, refusing to run. "It's not going to work. Fools." He examined the hallway carefully before stepping up to the keypad and rapidly punching in the code. He stepped inside, relaxing slightly as he took in Cyan, still out cold on the bed.

"No surprise there, really. Now, where are the little bastards?"

"Try behind you, Boss."

Jade went still, then slowly turned around - as Einn dropped from the ceiling. "Well, well. The rock-spider lives. I'm not surprised really - everyone else lived through it. Val and his explosions, tsk tsk."

"Yeah, he does rather suck at them." Einn agreed shortly, stunner in hand and pointed at Jade.

And what are you going to do with that? Knock me out and then carry my idiot brother off? That's universally foolish. You do that and I'll just wake up and come after you."

"No, you won't. Because we have your men, and your ship - that being the one you took from me - and a world of evidence against you."

"So you've joined ranks with the rebels, hmm? How quaint. But tell me this - what's to stop me from killing the little spy you have at the lab? Hmm? The one you can't find. Did I mention I'm the only one who knows its location? And what about the mutant's poor, poor mother. By the time you get there or send a warning, I'll have already given the order to have her killed. And she's already so sick, it wouldn't take much."

Jade smirked, "And all that aside - stunners won't work in here. The room's been rigged to nullify their effects. It is my brother I kidnapped, after all. So if you want to knock me out, do try. But I assure you that you'll regret it. And unlike my dear brother, you won't be waking up after I finish with you."

"Whatever." Einn holstered his stunner aside in disgust.

"You should have just stayed my obedient little pirate."

"I was never yours. I was never little. And I was barely obedient," Einn returned. "Why in the hell did you drag us into this?"

"I?" Jade looked innocent. "It's not my fault my idiotic brother decided to scamper off to tell a friend about his sick mother, nor my fault his friend turned out to be the mutant I've been trying to find for the past Term. If Cyan had kept to his tendency to hide away in that prison of his and ignore the rest of the world, all three of us would be much happier."

"Much more sane, anyway," Einn muttered. "So what do we do now? Stand here and chat all day?"

"No. I'd much rather just kill you and get back to business. I knew you'd turn out to be a problem."

"You can't just kill me."

"Can't I?" Jade asked, smirking. "You're just a lousy pirate, in the end. One who kidnapped my brother, who turned out to be your cohort and a jilted lover - that was quite the fight I hear. I was disappointed Cyan kept me from seeing it. He came here to hide from you, but you tracked him down and voila - a fight leads to two tragic deaths. And the last of my family dead, after turning traitor. It will be too much for me to bear, really." He sneered, "So very tragic. Who would suspect me of anything after that? Really, this is turning out to be rather convenient after all."

"You forget we still have your ship - my ship - and men hostage."

"So I inform them that the Dragonfly is the pirate ship they've been hunting for awhile. If it accidentally explodes while it's resisting?" Jade shrugged, "Getting myself out of trouble is second nature."

"Bottom dweller," Einn said in disgust. "You really are a conniving bastard - even more of one than I thought. I am heartily sick and tired of Alexanders. You're a conniving, back-stabbing bastard who got hit upside the head with one too many rocks, and your brother took my heart and shred it to pieces. Just what in the hell is all this for anyway? Just so you can use magics?"

"Has my little brother become a heartbreaker, then? Mother always said he would, he was so charming as a little boy."

"I got what I deserved, no thanks to you. Now if we're done chatting, I'd prefer to just take him and go. I really don't give a fuck about the rest. I'm just a pirate, this crap is way out of my league."

"Please - you're the one who just called me a conniving bastard. And I've already said I'm going to kill you."

"No, no - the conniving bastard bit I stole from Cyan."

"I thought the words sounded familiar," Jade said with forced patience. "He does like to call me that. But be that as it may - no one is leaving this room alive except for me."

"I still don't think you'll come out of it with your reputation clean. Too much mischief in one area always causes trouble."

Jade smoothed his robes, "You underestimate me. I've made a career out of making others take the blame for my schemes," He smiled nastily, "You should know all about that. And seeing as you're alive, you still owe me quite a bit of money, don't you? Or did you think I'd forgotten all about that? Not that it will matter - you're going to be dead soon. But I'll wait until you're talked out. Or at least until I get bored." Jade paused, as if something had just occurred to him. "How in the stars did you get past my security?"

Einn grinned, "I'm Fornarian - heat sensors can't read me, and I know how to avoid motion detectors. You should work on that. Second - I'm magics capable. This stupid house didn't account for that either. At least, not my type of magics."

"But my house is guarded against magics - a wide variety of them. Including some of your abilities, like the tendency to stick to things."

"Yeah - but I bet you hadn't accounted for magics that have tripled in power. I'm starting to appreciate the benefits of being stuck with a Draconis."

Jade hissed. "That problem will be remedied the minute I've finished with you," he snarled, even as he reached with blinding speed for the knife in his robes--

--Only to be halted by a hand gripping his wrist, and spun around to meet his brother's fist. Jade stumbled back, holding a hand to his shattered nose - then crumbled as Einn finished the job and sent him tumbling to the ground. He looked up at Cyan.

Cyan kicked his brother in the side, glowering. He looked at Einn, "I told you so."

Einn sighed.

Cyan stepped around his brother's body to stand almost toe-to-toe with the tall Fornarian, tilting his head back to stare up at him.

Einn tensed, forcing any signs of his misery and worry of the past several days from his face. "Ready to go? Or would you prefer to call a shuttle?"

For answer, Cyan reached up to tangle his hand in Einn's hair and dragged him down into a hard, bruising, kiss. He was still glaring when he broke away. "If you lie to me again, I'll beat you to the point my prisoners will think I've been going easy on them.

"R-right."

"And you're still in trouble." Cyan stated before kissing him again, this one softer and almost desperate, as if he were afraid Einn wasn't really there.

"Not that I'm complaining," Einn said eventually. "But shouldn't we be getting a move on?" He looked down at the top of Cyan's head, as the man had buried himself against his chest and was hugging Einn tightly.

He couldn't understand what Cyan said in reply. "What?"

Cyan looked up. "I thought you were dead."

"What?!" Einn said, horrified. He glared at Jade, still crumpled on the floor in a mass of black, pink and gold.

"Never mind for now." Cyan reluctantly pulled away. "Let's get out of here. We have to hurry, before he wakes up."

"No, we don't." Einn said, smirking. "Though I agree we should get out of this room." Still holding onto Cyan, he led them out of the bedroom. "Know how to lock this so he can't get out?"

"Yeah," Cyan took Einn's stunner from its holster and slammed it down hard against the console, jumping back as sparks showered everywhere.

"Hey!" Einn howled in protest. "I just bought that."

Cyan looked it over carefully, then aimed it down the hallway and fired. "It still works," he replaced it in its holster and smiled briefly. "So what's this plan of yours?"

Einn ignored the question, distracted by the wounds on Cyan's face, neck and arm. "What has he been doing to you?"

"Using me as a scratching post," Cyan responded dryly. "Used to be his favorite thing to do, when mom and dad weren't around. Back then, he had to be a lot smarter about where he clawed me." He touched the marks on his cheek, smiling ruefully. "I guess these days he doesn't have to worry about being punished."

"Hmm…" Einn pulled his hand away and ducked his head to press soft kisses to the marks on his cheek, "I hope you left a few marks on him."

"Not really, no." Cyan pulled away, ashamed. "I'm pretty good at beating prisoners up - not so much Jade. It's hard to one-up my first teacher, and…"

"And?"

Cyan shrugged, "And he's my brother? As much as I want to hurt him, I don't. Want to hurt him, that is."

"I see," Einn smiled. "I guess that's what makes you the likeable brother. Though I did like seeing you smash his nose. I've been wanting to do that for years."

"Yes," Cyan narrowed his eyes. "We still need to discuss your working for him, at some point."

"Can't it wait?"

"For now," Cyan agreed. "But not forever."

Einn laughed, "Yeah, don't worry. If you're actually going to listen this time - who am I to complain?"

Cyan looked abashed. "I--"

But his words were cut off by Einn's lips, as the Fornarian kissed him warmly. "Come on," he said softly when he finally pulled back. "If we don't hurry up, Faller and Karmikel will kill me."

"You just live to get yourself in trouble don't you?" Cyan paused. "And who's Karmikel?"

"Trouble keeps life interesting, that's for sure. But I think maybe after this I'm going to try staying out of trouble for a bit." He took Cyan's hand and began leading him down the hall. "And…you'll meet Karmikel in a bit."

Cyan snorted. "I'll believe that when I see it." He increased his pace so that he wouldn't wind up being dragged, "Would you slow down?"

"Huh?"

"I don't have your spider legs. Either slow down or let me go so I can jog beside you."

"Oh, sorry." Einn slowed down enough that Cyan could keep pace with, refusing to let go of the hand clasped in his own.

"Where are we headed?" Cyan asked.

"The others should be waiting for us in the comm center. Hopefully we can begin to wrap things up. But we'll see."

"Sounds like I've missed quite a bit of fun."

"Something like that."

 

Chapter Twenty-one

Planet 00000000 (Zero), Alexander Private Estate

"Well, no distress calls yet." Faller said, eyes still on the screens that monitored the entire house. "Then again, that room seems to be in some sort of lockdown so I'm guessing he could be dead and we'd never know."

"You don't sound too concerned," Karmikel observed.

"Only because I'm certain he's alive. If I thought he'd get himself killed, I would've gone with him."

"It would have been wiser for me to go with him. The closer we are, the stronger our magics are."

Faller waved away his words, unimpressed. "Yeah, and those magics would have been a great help if your ship hadn't been able to stop the Temperast. You magics capable are all the same - you think magics will solve everything."

"I can fight just fine without my magics." Karmikel sounded almost sullen.

"Still wouldn't have helped you against the Temp. Magics capability is as much a strength as it is a weakness."

"And the same goes for you," Karmikel retorted. "Don't think you're special just because you know how to kick and punch. That Temp would have gotten you too, in the end. If a stunner didn't do the job first."

"I've faced worse odds than that. And did you not notice that the two of you were hiding behind me?"

"I wasn't hiding behind you!"

Faller snorted, "Whatever."

Whatever reply Karmikel might have made was prevented, as the door chimed a warning of someone trying to enter. "Open the damn door!" Einn said from the other side.

"Why should I?" Faller asked.

"Because if you don't, I'm going to kick your fucking ass when I finally get through it."

Rolling his eyes, Faller mashed the open button. "I see you've successfully retrieved our hostage."

"Good to see you again too," Cyan replied.

"Something like that," Faller rose from his seat.

Cyan didn't reply, his attention captured by the stranger in the room. "You must be Karmikel."

"Yeah, that's me. You're the boy toy we've been after?"

"Boy toy?" Cyan turned to glare at Einn.

Einn held his hands up, "Not my words. All his. He's got a problem with manners - as in he has none."

"So who are you?" Cyan looked back at Karmikel.

The Draconis pointed to Einn. "His match. Under protest…make that under heavy protest."

Cyan blinked, "You mean matched like…Sean and Mendel are matched?"

"Ew, no. Compare me to those two lovesick idiots again and I'll kill you." Karmikel reluctantly stood up. "We're matched as in our magics are compatible. And he's not all bad as company when he keeps his mouth shut."

"I see…I think." Cyan's lips twitched. "So I don't have to hate you?"

"No. He's all yours. Please. I'm told he's more tolerable to live with when you're around. Then again, Faller could be lying just because he's a bastard like that."

"That's enough!" Einn growled. "Sheesh. Shut the hell up, both of you. I think my mutinous crew was nicer to me."

"And what about me?" Faller asked, glaring at them all.

Einn shrugged. "What? You are a bastard."

"Aren't we supposed to be getting out of here?" Faller asked in an icy tone of voice.

"Yeah," Einn looked at a clock hanging on the wall. "But we're actually ahead of schedule, I'm impressed."

"So am I," Faller said. "Now let's get going. Pyotr can't wait around all day."

"Going," Einn responded, motioning the others to follow as the door opened and he stepped into the hallway. "I was really expecting this to be a lot more difficult, seeing as Alexander is supposed to be highly intelligent and all that."

"He is," Cyan said quietly. "But he's also over-confident. And we're not out of trouble yet. All this does is create one huge mess for us."

Einn looked over his shoulder to shoot Cyan a grin, "Oh, just wait. Your buddy Sean and his Draconis have quite the connections." Hitting the stairs, the four of them rapidly descended. "How do you think we got the codes to transport here? And how I knew where to go to fix things so Lark and Karmikel could come after me?"

"Pyotr you mean?" Cyan frowned in thought. "I don't know the name."

"For shame, Rehab." Faller taunted. "You don't know the name of one of your brother's peers?"

"What?"

Karmikel huffed, "Shut up! Just get on the transport. You people talk more than my mother's match did when she gossiped with her friends."

Faller let out a bark of laughter. "That's funny coming from someone that could pass for a woman."

"I almost kicked your ass once for that, red skin," Karmikel said in an angry hiss. "I'll do it again if you don't shut the fuck up."

"Whatever, battery."

"Are you two always like this?"

Einn laughed as he punched in the codes that would take them away from the Alexander Estate. "Actually, the funny part is that it's usually Karmikel and me who are fighting. I don't see why Lark gets so mad at us - it's rather entertaining to watch."

Faller's words were lost as they transported away.

Planet 00000000 (Zero), Kavalerov Private Estate

"You are back," Pyotr said calmly as they appeared in his home. "And Mission completed successfully, excellent. And what of the Lord Alexander?"

"Locked in his room with a broken nose," Einn replied.

"I see." Pyotr extended his hand to Cyan. "The younger Alexander. It is a genuine pleasure to meet you."

Cyan hesitantly shook his hand, "I'm not too sure about that, but thanks all the same." He blinked, "Aren't you Lower Chancellor Kavalerov?"

"You can remember a name like Kavalerov but you can't remember Pyotr?" Einn asked him.

"I am he," Pyotr spoke over Einn.

"And you've been helping Sean?"

"Indeed I have."

"Huh. So what do we do now?"

Pyotr motioned the group to follow him, "We have a meeting to attend. This game has continued long enough - it's time to start bringing things to an end." He led the way through his house, past a dizzying array of patterns and colors, ornate porcelains and paintings that both Einn and Faller mentally tallied as they walked, exchanging brief, rueful glances. Pyotr paused in front of a large, dark wooden door and flipped open a hidden panel, rapidly typing in the code.

The door slid open, and he led them inside.

An old, stern looking man sat behind a large desk made of some dark gold wood, ornately carved with abstract whorls. His mandarin-style robes were of a heavy maroon and antique gold, a stark contrast to his severely cut dark grey hair and pale blue eyes. He looked up as the group entered, fixing Pyotr with a stony glare. "What's this all about, Pyotr?" He frowned at the rest of the group briefly, then refocused his ire on the Lower Chancellor. "I really don't like what I'm reading in this report. And I'd imagine you already know why else I'm severely displeased with you."

"Yes, sir." Pyotr said, unperturbed. "I'll accept due punishment for my actions - but later."

"Later," the man agreed. "Is everything in this report true?"

Pyotr looked momentarily offended, "Yes, sir. All can be verified with the listed contacts - a few of which are present here." He indicated the men gathered behind him.

"One of your listed contacts is a convicted murder," the man said. "And I notice you neglected to list a means by which to actually contact him."

"Of course, sir. I wish to guarantee his safety first. And a promise that he won't be imprisoned until certain matters are resolved."

"Did you not hear me when I said he's a convicted murderer? Pyotr, even I can't undo something like that."

Pyotr remained unfazed, "What about his match? Sean Noor?"

"Yeah," Karmikel interjected. "You can't lock up his match for a crime he didn't commit."

"Precisely," Pyotr shot the Draconis a warning glance. "At the time of the murder, Mendel and Sean had not yet even met."

"I think we all know the circumstances of their meeting," the man said dryly. "And with that in mind - Noor is suspected of helping the prisoner escape. So he'll quite possibly be going to Rehab on charges of his own."

"No," Cyan shook his head. "I was there when Mendel was brought in. Sean collapsed right beside me, before Mendel snatched him away and vanished. If someone is trying to say he aided Mendel's escape, he's lying. I would swear my life on it."

"I see," the man said, looking none too pleased by Cyan's adamant words. "If what you're saying is true, I've got yet another problem that I really don't want to deal with." He glanced at the screen in front of him, looking over Pyotr's report. "Reading through this, I see no conclusive evidence that the High Chancellor is involved. Just your word and that of Lord Alexander - who is himself currently under suspicion. And notably lacking in evidence against him." He looked up at the Lower Chancellor, "You're not giving me much to work with."

"If you don't mind," Cyan interrupted, "Would someone mind explaining what's going on to me?"

The old man looked at him in annoyance, but Einn spoke up first, rapidly relating to Cyan all that he had missed, with Pyotr occasionally filling in details.

"I see," Cyan said when they finished.

"You see what?" Pyotr asked.

Cyan shook his head, "Nothing in particular." He ignored Einn's suspicious look.

Pyotr pressed him, "If you have any ideas as to your brother's motives, I'd appreciate your telling me."

"I make a point to stay out of my brother's business. All I can tell you is that he hoped to use me to get to Sean and Mendel. After that? I couldn't tell you."

"That we already knew, apparently." The old man sounded more aggravated than ever. "Pyotr, you stay. The rest of you are dismissed - but stay on the premises. I may want to speak with you later."

Faller snorted, "Are you always this rude? I would have expected better from you."

"I'm not in the mood to be polite. Especially to the people who brought me a fiasco like this."

"If you'd been doing your job in the first place--" Faller was silenced by Karmikel, who clapped a hand over his mouth and promptly dragged him out the door Einn opened, before Faller had time to react.

Faller's voice was ominous as he jerked away from Karmikel out in the hallway, "You're going to pay for that."

"Che," Karmikel was unfazed by the tone. "I'd be dealing with a lot worse if you'd been able to finish telling off the Grand Chancellor."

"He needed telling off."

"You're not the best one for the job. The whole lacking tact and subtly and civility thing."

"You're one to talk, Miss Manners."

Einn lifted a brow at them both, then motioned quietly to Cyan to follow him down the hall. "So what gives?" he asked when they'd left the sounds of the argument behind.

"What do you mean?"

"You know a lot more than what you were willing to tell."

Cyan shrugged, "It's nothing anyone needs to know. Jade's finished, that's all that matters." He paused, "Where are we?"

"Pyotr's house?"

"That's not what I meant. I mean - can we go find somewhere to sit or something?"

"Hmm…" Einn paused at the first door they came to, thumbing the button to open it. He slipped inside, ignoring Cyan's warnings, and reappeared a minute later. "Looks good to me - don't think anyone uses this bedroom." He grabbed Cyan's wrist and dragged him inside, closing and locking the door behind them. "So talk."

Cyan was still for a moment, then all but launched himself at Einn, wrapping himself around the startled Fornarian and kissing him deeply. "Later."

 

Chapter Twenty-two

Planet 00000000 (Zero), kavalerov Private Estate

"You can't be serious," Pyotr protested. "I didn't do all this work so you could just let them get away with it."

The Grand Chancellor's gaze was frosty as he propped his chin on folded hands and peered at Pyotr. "I don't much care why you did it. The point that you seem to be willfully overlooking, Pyotr, is that you conducted an investigation without my permission. Internal Affairs agents don't turn philanthropic - they follow my orders. As you did all of this without clearance--"

"It needed doing," Pyotr said in a level voice, though his pale, cool eyes were beginning to spark. "The matter of the Draconis is getting out of hand, because no one will do anything about it. Rather, no one will legally do anything about it. On the surface, authorities waver and debate and stall while behind everyone's back they're harming not only Draconis for their experiments but also their matches."

"Yes, at a lab that for all intents and purposes doesn't exist."

"If you'd let me question Alexander, I could probably find it."

The Chancellor sat back in his seat, "You know damn good and well I can't. Nothing about this is official - I can't just make it official now. And questioning him without authority is useless. I won't permit it."

"Because you don't want to deal with it!" Pyotr said with rare anger.

"Watch it, Pyotr. You're on thin enough ice already."

Pyotr ignored him, "You should have had someone handling this matter right from the start. Everyone knows how much potential the Draconis have - both good and bad - and yet you just sat back and let the issue waver. Just like with the Temperast, until we finally had no choice but to destroy them."

"Nothing could have kept the Temps alive. They were too dangerous."

"Perhaps. But the Draconis aren't like them - yet if nothing is done they're going to wind up with the same fate."

"Don't preach to me. I neither need nor want to hear it." The Chancellor motioned to his screen, "Let me tell you some things instead. One - as fascinating as all of this is, I can't do more than I've already stated. This is too massive, too explosive a problem. I cannot simply go around accusing and arresting high-ranking officials of the Infinitum. Not without solid enough evidence and reliable witnesses."

"Why not?"

"Don't be stupid. You know it doesn't work that way. Politics aren't as clear-cut as you like to pretend they are. So just give it up. Two - your contacts are worthless. They're barely holding up with me, you use them as witnesses at a trial and they'll be laughed out of the courtroom."

Pyotr frowned, "I grant you that Adalsteinn and Lark Faller are a bit suspicious--"

"A bit suspicious, Pyotr? According to your reports they're pirates. That uncouth red-skin certainly acted like one. And this Draconis is useless seeing as he's mated to one of the pirates. And I refuse to discuss this scientist of yours, who need I remind is in that lab you can't locate? Nor will I rehash the murderer. Oh, and let's not forget the younger Alexander. There's a reliable witness." He snorted. "It's fairly common knowledge that those two had a falling out not long after their parents died. So it won't surprise anyone if he decides to speak against Jade. Especially when it's obvious to anyone who looks at them that he's got something going with that Fornarian. Or maybe I'm mistaken?"

"No, sir."

"Then stop trying to get me to see reason when you're the one living in a dream world." His voice gentled a bit, "I understand why you insist on playing the hero, Pyotr, but it's not always the best idea. I'll do what I've already said I would, but that's it."

Pyotr remained silent, eyes downcast.

"What is it?" the Chancellor asked, resigned.

"At least give me a little more time to finish things."

"Finish things? I think you've already done quite enough."

"Let me find the lab. Please. If we can locate the lab, then we can at least do more damage than we can now. We could actually solve several problems, instead of letting everything die as rumors."

The Grand Chancellor was silent, glaring balefully at Pyotr without really seeing him. "I will give you three days. After that, I'm releasing this information and washing my hands of the matter."

"Yes, sir. Thank you."

"Oh, don't thank me. You're going to be in big trouble for a long, long time. Before, during and after hours."

"….Yes, sir." Pyotr had returned to his normal quiet, level manner of speech…but it was tinted with a sad, disheartened note.

The Chancellor heaved an aggrieved sigh, "Pyotr, I know you mean well. You always mean well - it's what makes you who you are. But these heroic tendencies of yours only ever cause trouble. I can't bend and break the rules that we work to ensure are upheld and maintained. Even for you."

"But everyone around me can break them?"

"You're thirty-seven man, you should know by now the world doesn't always work as it should," the Chancellor sighed again. "Look - I'll give you five days to find the lab. Hopefully everything will stay under wraps that long, though if they've really downed Jade as you said, I doubt it will. And if you do manage to find the lab, I'll see what I can do to actually make this mission of yours stick officially. Maybe I'll even find a way to spare your comrades - including Ekard. It's the least I can do." He grabbed a cane that had lain out of sight against the desk until then, and rose slowly to his feet. "But after all of this is over, I think I'm going to put you where you can't cause me further trouble. My poor heart can't take much more of your penchant for noble causes."

Pyotr smiled, "If you gave it more excitement, more often, it'd be a lot stronger."

"No, thank you. Long, boring debates over stuffy laws is about all the excitement I need or want anymore. Whoever decided the Grand Chancellor needed to be head of Internal Affairs was a moron." His eyes glinted, "I think after Gory Cohen is forced to resign due to unpleasant rumors, I will arrange it so that heading IA becomes the duty of the High Chancellor. Maybe that will keep future HC's from getting into trouble."

"Yes, sir."

"I am leaving. Do not call me again, unless it is to inform me you have located your infernal lab. Or to tell me you've finally decided to settle down."

"The latter is highly unlikely. You should know that by now." Pyotr's lips twitched.

The Grand Chancellor eyed him, nodding. "You can't blame an old man for trying. I am ever hopeful that I will someday meet the man or woman capable of distracting you from your infernal heroics. Try to stay out of further trouble, Pyotr. It's getting more and more difficult to get you out of it."

"Have a good day, Grand Chancellor." He grinned at the glare his lingering formality earned him. "Uncle."

Muttering under his breath, the Chancellor departed.

Once his uncle was gone, Pyotr sat behind his own desk and mused over the report he'd spent hours typing. "Five days…I'll never find it in five days." Frustrated, he stood up and stalked from his study. He sighed softly at the empty hallway and thumbed a button on the controller carried in the pocket of his black slacks. A minute later, an elderly but fit-looking woman in a blue and silver uniform appeared. "Jenna, I don't suppose you've seen our guests?"

"The Draconis and red human are in the game room, the Fornarian and white human in the green bedroom."

"Have dinner prepared for eight and chime them all a half hour before?"

"Would you like it served in the formal dining room?"

"Good grief, no. The casual one is fine."

"Of course, my lord."

"Thank you, Jenna."

The woman dipped her head and shoulders in a half bow and then immediately retreated.

*~*~*~*

"So how did your meeting with the Grand Chancellor go?" Einn asked.

Pyotr's lips quirked as he eyed them. "He wasn't much impressed with the company I keep."

"Yeah, Faller has trouble making good first impressions." Einn laughed and ignored the wrathful look sent his way. He turned serious again a moment later, "But did you get what you wanted from him?"

"Not really, no. He doesn't much like when I do this sort of thing…and he is right in that his hands are tied at the moment. It doesn't matter what I'm doing - I have little hard evidence to back up my claims."

"So…" Cyan frowned. "He's not going to do anything? Even though most of the Chancellors are engaging in highly illegal activities?"

Pyotr shook his head, "He's not taking any formal action, is all. He's planning on sending what I gathered - your names stripped of course - to contacts in the media. That will spread rumors unpleasant enough that the parties involved will cease what they're doing."

"But that doesn't do anything to help the Draconis."

"It will do something - the Conis will not appreciate learning that humans have been tampering illegally with the Draconis. It will raise the issue from one of passing interest to one of major concern. And perhaps it will spur people to finally come to some decision." Pyotr shrugged, "As it stands, that is the best we can hope for."

An unhappy silence fell across the table. "So…that's it? Can't we do anything else?" Karmikel shoved his plate angrily away, "What about Fall? What about Sean and Mendel? Come on, Winter, we didn't do all that work just to settle for something as unsatisfactory as that. We deserve a better ending."

"I know," Pyotr said quietly. "But without the lab, we have no hard evidence that they actually did anything. Alexander covered his tracks all too well, and my only supporters are criminal elements or tied to criminal elements. Without some sort of hard evidence, like the lab, we have nothing."

Cyan frowned, "You have no idea where it's at?"

"None." Pyotr looked tired. "We assume it must be hidden somewhere in the fourth quadrant, since you can set up genetics labs easily there."

"I disagree," Cyan stated. "The rules in that quadrant are strict, and everything in the labs is kept tight track of. If you're going to do illegal experimentation, it's better to do it where the government isn't looking - and it's always watching the fourth quad."

"So you're saying it's somewhere in one of the other three? But it would be almost impossible to do. It's simply too difficult to get around the laws and regulations."

Cyan shook his head, "Not if you're hiding the lab in a place that's used to receiving strange items and equipment, and all manner of species. A place that ships and receives so often that, if you had the right insiders, you could get away with quite a bit."

"You almost sound like you know where it is," Einn said slowly.

"I…" Cyan hesitated. "Something my brother said, only it didn't make sense until now. I hadn't realized the location of the lab was unknown."

"So where is it?" Pyotr asked eagerly.

"I think it's on Rehab. More likely, the moon."

Silence.

Einn broke it, "The research lab is on Rehab? Why? How in the hell? That shouldn't be possible."

"Wrong. Getting out is the tricky part of Rehab. Getting in is very, very easy. And given we probably cage just about every common and semi-common species in the four quads - a few Draconis and their random mates wouldn't be hard to slip past the systems. If you had the right connections."

Faller looked at him in disbelief. "You're a damned Guard, why do you sound so casual about all these fucking flaws you're listing?"

Cyan glared at him, "I wasn't aware of them until I started to put the pieces together. Besides, I'm not referring to Six, where I work. No one and nothing twitches in six without permission or the proper key. But sectors one, four and seven are for the really minor criminals. The security there is much lighter - especially one, which is just for minor juvenile offenders. Seven is for minor female offenders, and four is for men. Kidnapping the Draconis and their mates and slipping them through seven and four would be easy. Of course, you'd need an insider or three. That's the catch to it all. But if you did have the right contacts inside Rehab, I could see where it could be done. Hell, I bet even the staff for the lab was slipped in as pick pockets and the like."

"I've been an idiot," Pyotr said roughly. "All this time I just automatically assumed they were in quad four." He shoved back his chair and rose to his feet, "I will see to this. Finish eating." Determined and almost cheerful, Pyotr strode from the room.

 

Chapter Twenty-three

Planet 00000000 (Zero), Palace of Eternity

"Well," the Grand Chancellor glared at Pyotr. "You're certainly getting your wish. Rumors have barely begun flying and already I sense half the primary seats will be forced to resign at the end of the Term. I guess we'll know for sure when the formal inquiry begins in an hour."

"Shouldn't you be happier about having so many untrustworthy individuals expunged, Uncle?"

"No. Because it means I have to work three times as hard to find worthy replacements."

"Grand Chancellor…" Cyan began.

"Ugh, please. All I've heard since Pyotr stepped out of line is 'Grand Chancellor this, Grand Chancellor that' - about a thousand times more than I already hear it. Arkadii will work just fine, thanks."

"…Arkadii - what happens to us now?"

"Off the hook, for the most part." Arkadii looked at Pyotr. "I don't really have a choice in the matter. I can't make it public knowledge that Pyotr is an Agent for Internal Affairs."

"Something he neglected to tell us," Karmikel interjected.

"It wasn't necessary to tell you," Pyotr said apologetically. "Jundel only asked for my help because I once helped to solve a minor problem on Coni concerning an IG official, and I owed her a favor. My help has always been mine, not that of an IA agent."

Karmikel waved his words away. "Hey, I don't care. I just found it interesting."

"What's the plan, exactly? All this political mumbo-jumbo gives me a headache," Einn asked from where he was leaning against the far wall, frowning into his drink. "We're holed up in here, twiddling our thumbs, while outside everyone is going nuts. The Coni representatives are up in arms, the Lower Chancellors are doing their best to be invisible - minus Jade who is still locked up - and the Higher Chancellor has yet to put in an appearance."

Arkadii looked as if he'd swallowed something sour. "It's rather quite simple. You lot have no part in any of this. The only evidence I possess that my Chancellors have been up to something are the words of the scientists we unearthed on Rehab, the Guards who were bought by persons unnamed, a ship full of pirates all too willing to blame whomever, and the Lady Jundel, who has been in contact with an unknown person within the IG," he glared at Pyotr. All that combined is not enough to convict anyone, but it is enough that they'll have to resign their offices. And then of course there are the Draconis and mates who were held against their will in the labs - together with this Lorraine woman, that should be enough to stir up the issue of the Draconis. I'll bet you an early retirement that the next Collective revolves entirely around settling the matter of the Conis. And if I have my way about it, we'll vote to dump the problem entirely on the Conis and tell them to leave us the hell out of it. But we'll see." The Chancellor scrubbed his face, looking tired. "I'm getting too old for this."

"Hardly." Pyotr said with a trace of fondness. "And it's what you get for slacking off anyway."

"Shut up, Pyotr."

"Yes, sir."

"Do you have any idea how annoying this inquiry is going to be?" Arkadii groused. "I have no help whatsoever, because all of my Lower Chancellors are under suspicion for illegal experimentation - concerning magics! Even you, Pyotr."

"You could just out me," Pyotr said calmly. "If it's known that I'm an agent, it would make things much more simple."

Arkadii paused, frowning at him. "That would cost you your job as an agent."

Pyotr smiled weakly, "You'd finally have found a way to keep me out of trouble, right? And it's the easiest way - because then I could pull in Einn, Faller, and Karmikel - if I claim they've been working for me the entire time, that solves several problems at once. I'd still get in trouble for conducting an unofficial investigation but it would be enough to 'generate substantial suspicion' that you could open an official investigation. And together with Jundel and Lorraine, we'd have enough to make a good if not strong case."

"What about Sean and Mendel?" Cyan asked.

"No good," Arkadii said. "I can't change cold hard fact, and the fact of the matter is that Mendel is a convicted murderer - one who murdered a prominent member of the IG. Even if it wasn't intentional, and his father was working to destroy the Draconis, he's still a killer." His voice softened as he looked at the dismayed Cyan, "But the matter of Sean is a big one - and part of the reason the Draconis issue will become a much bigger issue than it has been. I will see to it that they are not locked up in Rehab - but I can't promise more than that."

"I know," Cyan said.

"The inquiry is beginning shortly," Arkadii said in an abrupt shift of topic. "Pyotr, fetch Jade and see to it that Cohen is located and made to present himself. It's not speaking well of him that he's hiding away while these rumors fly." He rose to his feet, "I'm going to go get dressed. Damn it, I hate formal robes."

"Umm…Arkadii?" Cyan spoke up, reluctance heavy in his voice.

"Yes?" the Grand Chancellor asked impatiently.

"Will I have to speak against Jade?"

The Chancellor stilled, staring at him intently for several seconds, gaze lingering on the marks on Cyan's throat and cheek. "You are not currently required to stand as witness, unless you want to state that he did in fact kidnap and abuse you. Otherwise, you have no active role in this - other than illegal contact with Mendel Ekard, which is not part of this inquiry. And so far as I'm concerned, that meeting did not occur. If you do not want to speak against your brother, that is your decision to make. To be honest, your words would not hold much credibility anyway - not with it rather well known that the two of you had a falling out years ago."

Cyan nodded, but said nothing. The Chancellor left to change.

A silence fell across the room, and Cyan pointedly ignored the stares directed at him. Einn crossed the room and pulled him close, almost idly reaching up to stroke his hair. If anyone had something they wanted to ask or say, they opted to keep it to themselves.

Several minutes later three sharp, short chimes spilled from the intercom system, and Pyotr rose to his feet. "I had better get going, if I am going to fetch Jade in time for the inquiry. I will be back shortly. You had all best make your way to the primary hall and get settled in - it's going to last a long time and anything could happen. Inquiries this tense have a tendency to turn quite…colorful." Nodding politely to them, he departed.

"Come on then," Einn reluctantly loosened his arms from around Cyan. "Let's get going. No point in sitting here." He sighed, "I think I already miss being a pirate."

"You think?" Faller echoed. "I know I miss it. Being blatantly illegal is a hell of a lot easier then whatever the hell it is these legal types think they're doing."

Einn blinked, "That reminds me. What's to keep Jade from telling everyone we worked for him?"

"Who knows? I guess we'll just see what happens. If push comes to shove, I'm sure we can make a spectacular break for it."

Karmikel glared at them both, "I suppose I'm just along for the ride then, if you two decide on such a ridiculous stunt?"

"Naturally," Faller smirked. "You are his battery - and as the owner of the ship we're going to hijack naturally we'll have to take you hostage."

"Would you three please not discuss breaking the law in front of me? In the Palace of Eternity?" Cyan asked, torn between annoyance and amusement. "Seeing as I'm more or less back from vacation, I'd really prefer you not put me in an awkward--"

"Cyan?! Is that really you?"

Freezing in place, smile faltering, Cyan turned around to face the man who had called his name. He opened his mouth to return the greetings, but could not manage to force anything out.

The man walking towards him looked tired, weighed down, his brown and gray hair looking neat in a hurried sort of way, his formal black and silver robes not as neat or precise as they would normally be for an inquiry. His eyes were dark brown, deep set and sort of hidden under bushy eyebrows. Once he must have been tall and slender, but age had added a thickness to his middle, and his normally fair skin was pale with stress. But his expression had lightened a bit upon sighting Cyan. "How long it's been! I wish you were here under more pleasant circumstances - I'd heard you were here. I'd imagine on behalf of your brother? Are you all right? Rumors have started flying that you were kidnapped by pirates. How are you?"

Cyan just shook his head, stumbling back awkwardly as the man reached out a hand, the color draining from his face. "G-Gory…"

"What's wrong?" Gory frowned. "You look like you've seen a ghost?"

Einn caught Cyan as he continued to step back away from the High Chancellor, steadying him with hands at his hips. "Cy…are you okay?"

Though he barely heard the Fornarian, he unconsciously relaxed a bit at the feel of his hands. He shook his head, and frowned at Gory. "Is it true?"

Gory blinked, "Is what true?"

"What…what my brother said about you?" Cyan examined Gory's face, searching for something there.

"Jade? We've not spoken in ages, beyond business matters. So I have no idea what he might have said about me. Perhaps if you explained?"

On some level, Cyan knew this was neither the time nor the place for such a discussion. But…seeing Gory, with his brother's words echoing in his head, he found he could not simply 'let it go' as he had hoped he'd be able to upon seeing the man that had once been his parents' best friend. Jade just had to be wrong - and he'd find out now, he didn't give a damn where they were or who was witness. He shook his head, some of his color returning as determination took over the sickening dismay he'd felt before. "Jade said you killed mom and dad. Did you?"

As his words registered, he could feel a heavy silence fall around him, the result of complete and utter shock. At his hips, he felt Einn's hands tighten, a hiss of surprise coming from above him. He looked up briefly at Einn, taking some comfort in the concern he saw there, and then returned his attention to Gory.

"That-" Gory had paled just a bit, though Cyan could not tell why. "That's preposterous. How could either of you even think to suggest such a thing? Don't you think I have enough problems with these accusations flying around, and now the children of my best friends are accusing me of murdering them? Blue, you know me better than that."

"Don't call me that!" Cyan exploded. Even Einn jumped briefly at the unexpected outburst. He glared at Gory, "Did you kill them?"

"Where are you getting such absurd ideas? You storm off because of a spat with your brother, never send me any sort of letter or call, and now that I finally see you again, your idea of a greeting is to accuse me of murdering my best friends?" The beginning of anger tightened his mouth, flared in his eyes. "How dare you?"

"He dares because he's a fool," a smooth voice replied from behind Gory. The High Chancellor spun around, startled, to glare into Jade's pretty, frozen face. "Though in this case he's also correct."

Chapter Twenty-four

Planet 00000000 (Zero), Palace of Eternity

"You killed our parents," Jade said calmly.

Gory stepped aside as Pyotr guided Jade to join the others, forming a solid group against the dumbfounded Gory. He remained silent, unobtrusively thumbing a button on the remote hidden in the pocket of his formal black and silver robes, identical to those of Gory and Jade. "You're being preposterous."

"No, I'm not." He still spoke in a calm, almost idle tone. "Unfortunately, my plans have gone awry and I can't see you rot the way I would have liked. No thanks to my moronic brother and a man I mistakenly trusted," his cool eyes flicked briefly to Pyotr, who stared back and then looked away. Jade returned his gaze to Gory. "You killed mom and dad."

"Ridiculous. You're insane."

"I AM NOT INSANE!" Jade snarled, his calm façade dissolving. "You killed my parents, and then you had the nerve to hold me while I cried, while their bodies were wrapped up and hauled away like so much garbage. You held me and all the time you were the one who pulled the trigger! Don't try to tell me you didn't!"

Gory frowned, looking concerned. He turned to Pyotr, "Shouldn't we be getting to the inquiry? Surely these absurd accusations can wait. There's no call for this behavior - surely you agree?"

"Shut up," Cyan said before Pyotr could speak. "If you really are innocent, Gory, I'll be the first to silence Jade - and gladly. But if he's right, I want to know now."

Pyotr and the others remained silent, the only other people in the private hallway leading from the Chancellery offices to the court rooms and meeting halls.

Jade turned to sneer at his brother, "Finally deciding not to be a coward?"

"To hell with you, Jade." Cyan gazed stonily at his brother. "All I wanted was my quiet life. You've effectively ruined that - I just want to put an end to all of this and leave it behind me. That includes you."

"I won't be sorry to see you go."

"You're both crazy," Gory said as Jade finished speaking.

Jade glared at him hatefully. "I'm getting sick of people saying that about me. I'm not the bastard who killed my best friend and his wife and then pretended to comfort their sobbing child, and help the children cope, and then ever so gracefully accepted the promotion to High Chancellor."

"Absurd," Gory said, anger growing. "I don't understand why you keep saying such hateful things. Are you so upset about being caught at dabbling in magics research that you'd stoop to accusing me of murdering your parents?"

"Forget it, Cohen," Jade sneered. "By the time that inquiry ends, it will be perfectly obvious to all and sundry that you're just as guilty as I. Because I made damn good and sure that the money you 'donated' to 'charity' left a blazing trail, to show up in the accounts of the laboratory my darling brother no doubt helped them to find."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Gory said calmly. "Other than the fact that you're incriminating yourself quite thoroughly."

"I no longer care. All I want is to see you suffer, and if I've been thwarted this time, I will simply have to cut my losses. I have all the evidence I need to put you away - I just never wanted to use it."

"Che," Gory scoffed. "You're being absurd. You can't have evidence for something of which I'm not guilty."

"Oh, no? What would you say to the signed and witnessed confessions of all the assassins you hired to kill them?"

"Four signed and witnessed confessions from assassins? Now I'm convinced you're insane."

Cyan frowned. "Four? But there were only two."

"No…" Pyotr was looking at Gory with an odd look on his face. "Investigators learned that at least four gun men had been present in the area - two primary snipers and two back up. But IA never released that information. To anyone."

"You-" Cyan's face had gone green, but was rapidly turning red. "You son of a bitch!" He easily broke free of Einn's attempts to catch him, launching himself at the High Chancellor.

Jade smirked. "I guess he's good for something after all."

"This is ridiculous," Faller darted past the rest and grappled with the enraged Cyan and faltering Chancellor, cursing colorfully as he blocked swings and kicks that were deadly in intent.

Pyotr moved to help, dragging Gory away as Faller finally succeeded in stopping Cyan, pinning him to the ground. "Stop it."

"Fuck you. Let me up."

"No and no." Faller frowned, "Killing him won't do any good."

"I don't care!"

Jade sneered, "I thought you wanted me to just let it go."

"That was before I saw him," Cyan choked, eyes glittering with pain and rage. "Let me up!"

"No," Faller said again. He looked up at Einn, "Calm him down."

Einn frowned, "Cyan…"

"That is quite enough," Arkadii said as he appeared from behind the group. His eyes sought and found Pyotr. "You, I've decided, need to be locked up. It's the only way I'll get any peace." He shifted his attention to Gory, "You're in trouble. Quite a bit. I've half a mind to let young Alexander have at you." He looked at Faller and Einn, motioning to Cyan. "Take him out of here." Lastly, he looked to Jade. "Behave yourself from here on out or I'll see to it your sentence is worse than it would otherwise be."

"Sir…" Pyotr began.

"Shut up, Pyotr. I've got enough to deal with, I don't need you giving me more problems."

"You were just handed the person we've been trying to find for more than a decade. Shouldn't you be happy?"

"Happy?" Arkadii's eyebrows vanished into his hairline. "I'm about to force the resignation of three Lower Chancellor's, and at least one is facing arrest. My High Chancellor is guilty not only of illegal dealings but also of double murder. The elder Alexander will, by the end of the day, be on his way to Rehab and the younger has to be held down because otherwise he'll be arrested for murder. On top of all that, I'm losing my best - if most annoying - agent and the credibility of the IG is now officially at zero. If there's something for me to be happy about in all that, do let me know what it is Pyotr. Can you think of anything?"

"No, sir." Pyotr said quietly, looking away.

"Exactly." Arkadii motioned to the assembled, "Everyone get where they're supposed to be. I want this day over with and the sooner we begin the sooner we end." He didn't look back as he made his way back to the hall where the inquiry was to be held. As he left, Authorities in steel gray uniforms surged forward to take Gory and Jade into custody and escort them to the inquiry.

Faller waited until the group had vanished before relaxing his bruising hold on Cyan - who punched him as soon as he had the room to swing. But Faller only grunted in pain, accepting a hand up from Karmikel.

Cyan didn't look at any of them, merely glared darkly down the hallway the others had vanished down. He barely seemed to notice the arm Einn hesitantly wrapped around his shoulders. His fisted hands trembled at his sides, and he looked for a moment as if he might take after the departed figures - but then he simply folded into Einn, his sobs muffled by the Fornarian's heavy jacket.

Wordlessly Faller and Karmikel turned away to head for the primary hall, leaving Einn and Cyan alone.

*~*~*~*

The Grand Chancellor sat at the highest of three judgment seats over looking the grand-scale, black and gray Hall of Balance, the primary hall where all formal meetings were held - including important court sessions, high law debates, and inquiries involving high ranking officials. Under normal circumstances, the level below the Grand Chancellor was occupied by the High Chancellor, and below him the four Lower Chancellors. These five seats were glaringly empty, as all but one Lower Chancellor sat in the seats of the accused, and the remaining - Lower Chancellor Kavalerov - sat amongst the witnesses.

Proceedings began by calling in replacement judges to fill the empty seats. In case of death or some other serious circumstance, the positions of the Lower Chancellors could be filled by the First High Councilor of each Quadrant. But the seat of the High Chancellor remained empty, because the only ones fit to fill that position were themselves under Inquiry. The Grand Chancellor, normally just an observer, would this once serve to break any possible tie in judgment.

The Hall was glaringly quiet. No one spoke a word, not even to exchange theories and rumors regarding those under Inquiry. Before the benches at which the Grand Chancellor and stand-ins sat were four rows of chairs in which sat those under Inquiry. In the first row sat a quiet, stony line of four figures in formal black and silver. At one end sat Jade, black nails still but for the occasional twitch, before he recalled that tapping them against the armrest was not a good idea. Far opposite him, as far away as the two could get, sat Gory Cohen, looking pale and sick and resigned. Between them sat two Lower Chancellor's, both looking nearly as miserable as Gory. Behind that row was assembled a mass of scientists, pirates and a sullen looking Val.

To the right of the judgment benches, on a slightly raised dais, sat those who would serve as witnesses - Pyotr, Karmikel, Einn, Lorraine, and Jundel. Also assembled were those Draconis and their mates who had been held in the lab.

Opposite the witnesses were the rest of the primary members of the Infinitum Government - below each of the Lower Chancellors were the First and Second High Councilors, but as the First Councilors had taken the bench in lieu of the Chancellors, their four seats remained empty. In addition to the Second Councilors were the twelve Lower Councilors, completing the Primary Board of the Infinitum Government. The Secondary Board was aloft with the other approved guests.

High above on the balconies overlooking the hall were those few who had been permitted to view the Inquiry - the Secondary Board, several Conis delegates, a smattering of Draconis, and a select few family members of those under inquiry. In a center seat with a perfect view of everything below sat Cyan, pale faced and grim. And scattered everywhere throughout the Hall were Authorities in their austere steel gray uniforms, the only ones permitted weapons within the Palace of Eternity.

"Well," Arkadii's frigid voice boomed out, making more than a few people wince. "This is a fine disgrace you've thrown at the Infinitum," he glared down at the Chancellors. "Lower Chancellors Sylvius Li and Raquesha Morvan, you are under heavy suspicions for participating in illegal genetics experimentation on Draconis and various other magics capable persons. Related to that, you are under suspicion for permitting the kidnapping and mistreatment of said Draconis and their "mates," abusing your authority and willfully permitting the maltreatment of citizens you swore to protect. What say you, Chancellors?"

"Falsely accused," Raquesha said levelly, staring boldly at the Grand Chancellor.

"Falsely accused," Sylvius echoed, though he would not look directly at anyone.

"Hmm…" Arkadii shifted his attention. "Lower Chancellor Jade Alexander - you are under heavy suspicion for the same - illegal experimentation, abuse of authority and neglect of your citizens. You also fall under heavy suspicion of conspiring to do your peers harms. What say you, Chancellor?"

"I confess to all," Jade said, sounding almost bored.

Whispers and cries of shock sounded from those assembled on the balcony, and even through the government officials on the floor. Only the group of witnesses and the Grand Chancellor did not seem terribly surprised by Jade's words.

Arkadii nodded, and moved on to the next official. "High Chancellor Gory Cohen, you stand guilty of participating in the same crimes. And due to recent events, you also stand accused," he paused, feeling the sudden wave of curiosity that rippled through the assembly, "Of assassinating the Lord and Lady Alexander." A beat of silence, before the balcony and even many on the floor went crazy. One of the Councilors filling in on the bench pounded his gavel for silence. "What say you, High Chancellor?" Arkadii asked coolly.

Gory was silent, frowning at everyone but not really seeing them.

"Do note, High Chancellor, that this is only an Inquiry. Confessing here will, by law, lighten your sentence and spare the people you've failed to serve the months it would take to conduct your trial. However, I am obliged to remind you that an inquiry is held because we lack sufficient evidence to go straight to trial."

"I understand the reasons for a trial, Grand Chancellor. I am, despite what my actions say, fully aware of the law and how it operates. And I confess to all of which I am accused."

The noise was deafening, and eventually officials gave up trying to quell it. Gradually the Authorities managed to silence the assembled, though it took them nearly half an hour to do it.

"Very well," Arkadii said once he could be heard. "High Chancellor Cohen, Lower Chancellors Li, Morvan and Alexander - you are all hereby suspended until further notice. You are banned from your offices in the Palace and will not enter the Palace except with my express permission and accompanied by an Authority. Alexander and Cohen - your confessions I will take now, before the assembly. Know that once you confess, your words cannot be rescinded. Is that understood?"

"Understood."

Arkadii motioned to the Authority nearest the bench, "Captain - have a few of your men remove Li and Morvan. I do not want to risk their interrupting the proceedings."

"May I ask a question, first?" Sylvius asked with a frown.

"I don't see why not - but I reserve the right to not answer it. Ask your question, Li. But be quick."

"Why is Chancellor Kavalerov not standing with us? Is it not the case that all Lower Chancellors are under suspicion for grievous misconduct?"

The Grand Chancellor permitted a brief smirk, gone almost before it was noticed. "Lower Chancellor Kavalerov is in trouble only for conducting an investigation without my express permission. And Internal Affairs agents do not undergo public inquiries - he will be dealt with accordingly in due course."

Yet again, the assembly was taken by surprise, though this time they quieted much sooner. "Escort them out, Captain."

Arkadii stared down at the suspects still seated behind the Chancellors. "The rest of you will be dealt with in due course. Note that what Cohen and Alexander say cannot be used against you in an inquiry. I also remind you that if you cooperate and confess here, your sentence will lightened. Now-" he motioned to a row of women who had sat off to the side with the assembled government officials on the floor. "Let's begin."

Chapter Twenty-five

Planet 00000000 (Zero), Palace of Eternity

Cyan watched in silence, his hand clasped in Einn's, as first Gory and then his brother were escorted onto a transport ship.

Gory had not held up well, and by the end of the day looked as if he'd aged ten years or more. Jade, carefully kept away from his parents' murderer and under close watch, seemed better than he had before. A strange sort of eerie calm had settled over him, a stillness that made him look like some lovely, sad painting come to life.

Cyan waited until Gory had vanished into the ship, and squeezing Einn's hand reassuringly, stepped toward his brother. The guards and officials supervising let him, stepping back to give the brothers some privacy, though they kept an eye on the former Lower Chancellor. "Why, Jade?"

Jade shrugged, "I made my choices, you made yours. Don't think too much about it, Blue - complex thoughts were never your style."

"We could've been--"

"Happy? A family? Keep thinking that Blue - whatever makes you happy." Jade turned away, escorting himself aboard ship.

Cyan remained where he was until the ship had taken off, then turned back toward Einn, and allowed the Fornarian to lead him through the halls and to the office of the Grand Chancellor.

Everyone fell silent a moment as they entered.

"So - everything from the past several years was just about one man's revenge?" Karmikel said at last. He glared back as the others stared at him in fierce disapproval, "What? It's my damn race he allowed to be abused. I have a right to know."

"Yes," Cyan said quietly, sitting down heavily. He looked at Einn, a trace of his usual humor appearing briefly in his eyes. "When I said there was nothing sane or reasonable about him, I meant it."

"I guess you did."

Cyan sighed, scrubbing his face with his hands in an attempt to banish his weariness. "The night…the night my parents were killed, I was at home. I only heard about exactly what happened later, so it was never as bad for me as it could have been. It was a…more distant horror. But for Jade it was very very close. He was right beside my parents as they were shot - he and my mother watched my father die, and then my mother literally died in his arms. I think it did something to him - I know it would have done something to me. I guess…" he laughed bitterly. "I guess it didn't help that later, seeking the person responsible, to discover that the murderer was our family's closest friend. Gory - he helped us a lot those first days and weeks and months. And he was the one who held Jade and kept him sane - or so we thought. He brought my brother home and didn't leave the house at all that night. He…he really was our lifeline."

"We fell out of touch later, when Gory became High Chancellor and Jade began his schooling to join the Infinitum. He also became obsessed with revenge. I do mean obsessed. It was Jade's primary goal in life, and nothing and no one could have dissuaded him from it, if they had known what he was about. He never forgave me for not wanting to help. All our other disagreements could be patched up, forgiven and forgotten. But not that one. He tried everything to keep me there, to gain my cooperation - he even once chained me to my bed. Finally, though, it was obvious we'd never reconcile. So I left."

Einn shifted where he sat on the arm of Cyan's chair. "One thing surprised me - Jade left Lark and I completely out of his account. He could have taken us down with him easily, recounting his use of us to acquire information and supplies he needed."

"Who knows?" Arkadii said with a shrug. "I'm thinking it's best not to look too deeply into the poor man's motives for anything."

"So what happens now?" Faller asked.

Arkadii grimaced, "I get to go through mountains of paperwork and tomorrow begins a long, long line of tedious trials and meetings." He slid his eyes to Pyotr, "The first order of business will be to instate you as the temporary High Chancellor and the councilmen as Lower Chancellors, to serve until the end of Term. Though you might all do well enough that perhaps I won't have to work too hard at finding replacements."

"Oh, no," Pyotr protested adamantly. "There's no way I'm going to serve - even temporarily - as High Chancellor."

"You think not?" Arkadii asked in a dangerous voice. "You're no longer an agent, and I'm certainly not setting you amongst the Authorities to start your heroics anew. No, I think High Chancellor is perfect for you - especially as I'm going to begin lobbying to have the duties of leading IA handed over to the HC. If that doesn't keep you out of trouble and get me out of the problem of having to get you out of trouble, nothing will."

Pyotr sighed in defeat, "I really wish you'd retire."

"So do I. But first I have to solve this delightful disaster you've put in my lap." He looked at Cyan, "Which reminds me your friends should be arriving shortly - under guard but mostly as a formality."

"Sean and Mendel?" Cyan asked, startled.

"Yes," Arkadii sat back in his seat and steepled his fingers. "Your friends here," he motioned to Karmikel and Faller, "Contacted them and arranged several things while you were assisting the raid on Rehab. Due to the all the clamoring and shouting that has sprung up regarding the Draconis and their mates - and given that Mendel is apparently something of an expert on his race - he will not be returning to Rehab any time soon. It has not been arranged formally yet, but most likely he will be put under house arrest on…" he looked at his papers. "Mars. I spoke with the Lady Jundel earlier about this, apparently Sean's mother is not doing so well?"

"She's sick," Cyan said. "And not likely to recover."

"I am sorry to hear that," Arkadii said with honest sympathy. "So the two will, barring some strange occurance, be placed under house arrest there until such time as their presence is no longer required on Mars. They will then be transported either here, or to Conis. The matter is not yet decided."

Cyan managed a smile, "Thank you, Arkadii."

"Unnecessary. I'm more interested in the rest of this lot." He looked at Einn, Karmikel, and Faller.

Einn shrugged, "I guess we're out of the pirate business - Karmikel's too prissy for such a job. According to what was said at the inquiry today, we work for Pyotr."

"Yes," Pyotr said. "The problem of the Draconis has only just begun. I could use agents of your caliber."

"Oh, we're agents now." Faller rolled his eyes. "I hope I don't have to wear a uniform. I still say life was easier before we decided to take someone hostage."

"Easier but a lot less interesting," Einn grinned.

Faller snorted, "You're biased, so shut up."

"Does this mean my ship is being commandeered for government use?" Karmikel groused. "I don't want anyone but me touching it. And those three, if I have to let them."

Einn tsked softly, "As an official member of the Infinitum Government, Agent Karmikel, you are really going to have to work on your people skills."

"I'll show you my people skills, rock-climber. Beating some sense into you would be a public service grand enough I should be appointed Emperor."

"I'd like to see you try it."

"That's enough." Arkadii said, though he was almost smiling. "Pyotr, you may want to rethink recruiting this lot. I don't think it's the best way to begin your new career." He paused, looking thoughtful. "Then again, getting them out of trouble would doubly ensure you don't have time to get into it."

"I'm not that bad, Uncle."

"Yes, you are."

A frantic knocking at the door interrupted the bantering. Arkadii glared daggers at it, then mashed a button to open the door. "What?" he barked at the jittery guard in the hallway.

"Sir! The ship! Explosion!"

"Speak in a way I can understand you."

"Sir!" the authority snapped a salute. "The prisoner ship escorting Alexander and Cohen to Rehab exploded shortly after exiting light jump. It crashed just outside settlement six on Mars."

"Status?"

"No word yet, sir."

"Then get lost and don't let me find you again until you have something useful to tell me."

"Yes, sir." The authority dashed off.

Cyan's laughter made them all jump.

"You're not surprised, are you?"

"No. How many times must I say it? Jade is beyond anyone's control. From the moment we locked him in that room, he was making new plans."

Arkadii was stern as he spoke. "Then why didn't you say anything?"

"Because he's my brother."

"How do you even know he's alive?" Faller asked, not unkindly. "It's possible that explosion was meant to kill them all."

"No," Cyan shook his head. "I guarantee you that Jade will not be found. And Gory is alive, I would swear my life on it."

Arkadii frowned. "What makes you so certain?"

Cyan smiled crookedly. "Because for Jade, a life in Rehab isn't good enough. His plan all along wasn't simply to have Gory imprisoned - you should know that. He could have had Gory locked away years ago. No - his plan is to make Gory suffer, to make his every moment a living hell." He looked up at Arkadii. "So if I were you, I'd make sure that his family is well-protected. Anyone that might have been close to him, that it would hurt Gory to lose or see suffer. My brother had no compunctions against killing me to get what he wanted, so don't think he won't go to any length."

"You could have said something and prevented this."

"I've warned you what Jade will most likely attempt. That will have to do."

Arkadii shook his head. "I thought you were better than that, Cyan."

"I thought a lot of people were better than they were." Cyan stood up. "I'm done here."

Pyotr stood as well. "If you would like, you are more than welcome to make use of my place. Though of course your own family home is available to you."

"No…I won't be going back there for a long time. If ever. If you're certain, I will gladly take you up on your offer."

"Of course," Pyotr replied. "You are all most welcome. Please, go and relax. Your friends should be arriving shortly, and you can all remain there until matters are settled and you're free to go."

Arkadii looked almost amused as he too rose to his feet. "You'll make a splendid High Chancellor, Pyotr. I don't know why you're worried about it. Now, I am off to see to this latest crisis, then hopefully to my own home. Farewell to all of you. Let us hope that in the future, our meetings are dreadfully boring." He departed, Pyotr following close behind him.

Einn dropped an arm around Cyan's shoulder, and led him out of the room, just behind Karmikel and Faller, who were bickering about the ship and their as of yet unnamed new duties.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked Cyan quietly.

"I'm alive."

"That wasn't what I asked."

Cyan sighed, and attempted a smile. "I'll be fine. But the next time I get the bright idea to get myself kidnapped, smack me."

"No one is going to be kidnapping you except me, and that's only if you try to do something stupid like leave." They slowed to a halt in the transport room, not moving to follow the other two, who had already vanished. "When are you going back to work?"

"I don't know," Cyan shrugged. "I'll stay on Mars with Sean for awhile, maybe take a month of real vacation. I'll decide then." He sighed. "At some point I'll have to decide what to do with the house and property, since they've apparently fallen into my keeping with Jade's arrest."

Einn frowned. "So you don't want to live here on Zero?"

"No," Cyan said and shook his head. "It's just too depressing."

"Pain in my ass." Einn sighed. "It'd be a hell of a lot easier to see you regularly if you were here rather than on Mars, since I get the feeling Zero is going to become my base of operations. I don't think I like this lawful lifestyle. If I turned pirate again at some point, would you still want me?"

"Einn…" The corner of Cyan's mouth tilted in a half smile. "Do you remember our fight? On your ship?"

"You think I could forget? I think my face still hurts from that punch you threw. Why?"

"Before that happened, I'd been about to ask if you wanted to keeping seeing me. Whenever you were in my area…"

Einn drew a sharp breath. "That would've gotten you into a world of trouble."

"I told you I don't do flings - I'd been hoping you'd changed your mind about doing permanent."

"Isn't it rather obvious by this point?" Einn asked softly, reaching out to pull Cyan close and stroke his hair. "I was free to do whatever the hell I wanted after my crew mutinied - after you left. I didn't think I'd get you back, even if we did succeed in rescuing you. But I do have you back - and didn't I just say that if you try to do something stupid like leave, I'd just kidnap you?"

Cyan's voice was mostly teasing, "I don't think my leaving was ever the concern."

Frowning, Einn leaned down and brushed Cyan's lips softly with his own, barely moving away to respond in a low tone. "Well, my leaving isn't either. I may as well make myself a complete failure as a Fornarian and get attached to one person."

"I'll try to make being a failure worthwhile then."

"I like the sound of that."

Epilogue

One Half term later

Planet 1311819 (Mars), Settlement 2

"So you're really not going back?" Sean asked.

Cyan shook his head, "It's just too difficult; I've lost all taste for Rehab. Well…not all taste. But I can't do my job knowing Gory is there, and that someday my brother might be as well." He smiled faintly. "I'll miss it, but I've got plenty else to occupy me. But how's it going with you?" He motioned toward Alice, who was slowly approaching the table where they sat, followed by a tolerant Mendel holding a tray of drinks and snacks.

"Well enough. It's hard - she has good days and bad days. We all know she won't last more than another Term or so…but mostly we deal with it. She's happy enough that I'm here and not holed up on a Kreska moon." Sean grinned. "She loves hearing the story of how you reached me."

"Oh, shut up. The next time she needs someone to go find you, she can get someone else. This sucker is done."

"Yeah, and Einn might have something to say about it anyway."

"That reminds me - what time is it?"

"He should be arriving shortly."

"Mmm…" Cyan murmured. "He'd better. I've got enough to do without him running late."

"You could just take a shuttle."

"Forget it. I've got too much stuff going with me to trust it to public transportation - even if I can afford to shell out the money for secure transport."

Sean laughed for a moment before turning serious again. "Are you going to be okay? We'll miss having you here."

"I will miss Mars and having you home again," Cyan agreed. "But I need to figure out what to do with my family's estate and all kinds of other stuff I've been putting off - and Pyotr keeps asking for my help. I've got to figure out how to tell him that Jade will be caught when and if he wants to be caught."

"Still trying to find him? Six months into the search, they may as well give it up for a lost cause."

Cyan shrugged, "I think Pyotr's made it his personal mission to find Jade, though I couldn't tell you why. I think he just hates being stuck at a desk all the time. But he also wants me to help Einn and the others. He seems to think I'd have a knack for the business - and I would get to see Einn more. We'll see, though; I'm in no hurry to decide anything. I would like to see everything finally settled, so you and Mendel don't have to stay under house arrest your whole life."

"It's better than having Mendel put in Rehab," Sean said as the Draconis and his mother finally reached the table.

"At the rate things are going, he'll probably just walk away with a slap on the wrist. You two and your mother," Cyan looked at Mendel, "are making headway in your fight. Another Term and maybe the IG will be ready to vote seriously on it. Though the Coni are a completely different story."

Mendel looked more relaxed than he had in a long time, as he sat down next to Sean at the small bench on the right side of the table. "One battle at a time." He smiled ruefully. "There are many that don't want to listen to what a murderer has to say - but there are just as many who, if they don't care much for me, highly respect my mother and are at least willing to give me a chance."

"Can't ask for more than that."

"Hey!" A voice called out, interrupting the discussion.

Cyan looked up and smiled as Einn came striding toward them across the lawn. "Am I late?"

"Almost," Cyan said, and leaned up to kiss him as Einn dropped down beside him. "Where are the other two?"

"Kel and Lark? I left them bickering over the best way to load your stuff. I'm sure Vicky will sort it out after they beat each other senseless."

Sean laughed. "I don't think it's physically possible for Karmikel to stop picking fights. I would swear he needs them like a Temp needs magic."

Throwing back his head, Einn laughed loudly in delight. "I need to use that one. I bet it would actually shut him up for an hour or two. Until Lark riled him up again." He stole Cyan's glass and downed the contents, then stood. "Come on - space is limited at port and we've only got clearance for an hour."

"It'll take longer than that to load my stuff," Cyan said even as he accepted Einn's hand.

"Not once Vicky lays into them and gets everything sorted out. I guarantee they'll be done by the time we get there." He smiled apologetically at the other three. "Sorry to just grab him and run."

"Just make sure Pyotr lets him come and visit occasionally." Sean said with a laugh.

Alice rose slowly to her feet to embrace Cyan and kiss his cheek. "Take care, Cy." She hugged Einn. "Stay out of trouble."

"I'll try, Alice - but no promises."

"Men." She shook her head. "You're not happy unless you're in trouble."

"Keeps life interesting - and these days trouble pays the bills." Einn winked, waved and dragged Cyan away. He was silent until the house was out of sight. "Was that a quick enough goodbye for you?"

"Thanks. I really wasn't looking forward to dragging it out."

Einn frowned. "You could just stay, you know. It's not like it's hard to come see you." He grinned and winked. "Especially as most of it goes on the expense report."

"Yeah, Pyotr bitched to me about that." Cyan looked up at him. "So you're not as clever as you think."

"Whatever. He's just mad because I'm having all the fun and he gets to listen to that old grouch bitch at him all the time." He paused as they reached the ship, "See? All loaded." They climbed up the ramp, which slid up behind them as the door slid shut. "Thanks, Vicky! Guys!"

"No problem," Vicky said pleasantly. "Hello, Cyan. Are you well?"

"I'm well. Keeping the miscreants in line?"

"More or less," Victoria said with warm amusement.

Einn looked around. "Where are Trial and Tribulation?"

Cyan choked. "Do they know you call them that?"

"Are you insane? I like breathing."

Victoria was laughing softly as she replied. "They're on the bridge."

"Arguing no doubt." Einn sighed and led the way to the bridge.

"Something like that," Victoria murmured softly.

Einn pushed the button to open the door just as Karmikel came barreling out, red faced and obviously upset about something. "Where's the fire, battery?"

"Shut up," Karmikel snarled before shoving his way past Einn to head for his room, nodding in passing to Cyan.

"What the hell did you do to him this time, Lark?" Einn asked with quirked brow as he stared at Faller.

"Nothing," Faller said resentfully. "It was his damn fault."

"Right. Vicky, are we ready to go?"

"Receiving clearance now. Do you want to light jump?"

"Nah, let's take the long way. There's no need to hurry back to Zero."

Faller was all but growling as he stalked out of the room. "So says you. I want off this damn ship."

"Did I miss something, Vicky?"

"Something."

"You're not going to tell me are you?"

"I'm not one to kiss and tell - so to speak."

"Kiss and…." Einn blinked, and then started laughing. "That's going to make things interesting."

Cyan just shook his head, and moved to the window to watch as they left Mars.

 

Short Stories

 

The Jewels of Bangkok

Planet 2147151 (Bangkok), Red Dragon Tower

"Bangkok was purchased in the 12th Century of Infinitum Government (IG) rule. It was bought by a wealthy businessman from the planet Mars, which lies…"

Elton stopped listening to the guide, far more interested in devising excuses to get out of the tour. He felt like an idiot, surrounded by kids and parents and grandparents. "Why are we doing this? "

"Ellie…" his sister sighed softly, speaking low enough that they wouldn't bother the others in the tour group. "Do I really have to remind you?"

"No," Elton replied. "I'm sorry - it's just…never mind. I'm sorry." He smiled. "We came to have fun, not to worry. So I'll try not to."

His sister shook her head and pinched his arm. "You? Not worry? That's like saying we'll wake up wealthy."

"Couldn't you make a better wisecrack than that, Lana?"

"Yeah, okay. Not funny." She tapped his nose with her finger. "But remember! While we're here we pretend like we have no worries or cares. We're here to have fun, and that means cheesy tours, bad jokes and getting utterly drunk - and maybe debauched - later."

Elton rolled his eyes. "You are not getting debauched."

"Don't worry, I'll just tell you I was out catching a play or something."

"…Wait a minute. Does that mean every time you've ever gone to see a play...?"

Lana snorted. "I wish. Sadly, no."

"Oh thank stars."

"Shut up." Lana pinched him again.

"Ouch! Quit that! Pay attention to your stupid tour, because I fully intend to quiz you later."

Laughing, Lana hooked arms with her brother and led him around the gallery as the tour guide indicated they should wander at their leisure. "Isn't this fun though, Ellie? We actually made it to Bangkok." She smiled at him and then turned her attention to the glass case before them, examining the faded papers and trinkets inside.

She didn't see the sad smile Elton gave her before he forced the cheer back into his face and manner.

"Do you think we'll see anyone famous?" she asked, looking back up at him. "Wouldn't that be fun?"

"No, it wouldn't be." Elton grinned. "Because then you'd try to harass them and we'd spend the rest of our vacation in lock up."

Lana sniffed. "Now who's making bad jokes? And I know how to behave, thank you very much." She tugged on his arm. "Come on, there's more to see."

"Oh, goodie."

"You!" Lana stuck her tongue out and hauled him around the rest of the exhibits, then back to the group as they continued their tour of one of the five main towers that were the center of Bangkok.

Red, black, green, blue and yellow - the five dragons spiraling up from the earth and creating what eventually became the heart of Bangkok, the only place in IG territory that could rival Planet Zero for the sheer number of people it saw per day. And the people who visited the 'Star of Delights' were far more interesting than those who had business with the Infinitum Government. Elton felt completely out of his element.

Not that back home felt much like his element either. Begging a need to sit down for a few minutes, he watched his sister flutter around the latest floor devoted to a museum chronicling Bangkok's legacy - from a weak, mostly barren planet bought by a far-too-wealthy Martian to the most notorious planet in the four quadrants. It was controlled by the wealthy eccentric's descendants, the latest of which were a reclusive old man and his two sons - and Lana could probably tell him more if he cared, which he didn't. Lana, however, had always been in love with the place. Before everything had fallen apart, she had planned to someday drag an unsuspecting lover into a grand Bangkok wedding.

Elton wished she hadn't been forced to settle for a tense three-day vacation with her little brother. But he'd wished for a lot of things he hadn't gotten.

"Are you done resting yet?" Lana loomed over him with hands on hips. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You'd better not be over here brooding."

"I'm not, I'm not. I was thinking deeply about how wonderful and magical Bangkok is, I swear it." Elton held his hands up in surrender. "Honest. Really."

"Liar," Lana said fondly, and hauled him to his feet. "Come on, idiot. Tour's over, let's go rest a bit before our evening adventures."

Elton gave a long-suffering sigh. "Yes, Princess."

Much later that evening, Elton escorted his sister down to the hotel lobby, an obscenely grand entryway of gold and marble and crystal. Lana had wanted one of the finest, and so the finest it had been. He tugged at one of her curls before sliding a soft, white fur stole over her shoulders. Rather than hide anything, the fur only seemed to accenuate her form-fitting, sleeveless red dress and the necklace that was her pride and joy. The diamonds in it - Cela diamonds, some of the finest in existence - covered the majority of her throat in a pattern that almost looked woven, all of them spun around the massive heart-shaped Fornarian ruby at the center. Her prize piece and one of two they'd refused to let be taken away. Combined with the fair skin, pale blonde hair and emerald green eyes they'd gotten from their mother and it was a wonder to him his sister hadn't already been claimed by someone.

Then again, there had been their father.

"So should I expect you in the morning or the afternoon?"

"I'll be back by morning, but I wouldn't expect me to be awake before noon."

"Of course." Elton rolled his eyes.

Lana ignored the gesture. "Are you certain you don't want to come with me? We could see the play and then do a late dinner together."

"I'd rather just do dinner and then see what I can find," Elton said with a shrug. "You know me. Go glamour and glitz and charm someone who turns out to be an Interstellar lawyer."

"He'd probably just be an ass like all the rest," Lana wrinkled her nose. "If you're certain, then I'll see you tomorrow afternoon." She kissed his cheek. "Try to enjoy yourself."

"Of course. Enjoy the play, Lana. Don't bring back someone prettier than me."

Lana laughed at the old joke. "There are few men prettier than you, dear brother." With a last laugh and a wave, she allowed a hotel employee to escort her to her waiting transport.

Elton watched for a moment, then turned and strode toward the hotel restaurant. A moment later he was seated at a table at the edge of the wide space that divided the restaurant, leaving plenty of walking room for guests and workers in the crowded restaurant. It gave him a nice of view of not only the restaurant but also the skyline outside and most of the lobby. Plenty of distractions to keep him from brooding, since he'd promised Lana he'd try to avoid it.

When his waiter arrived, Elton asked about the wines - thirty minutes of heated debate later the waiter vanished cheerfully to get the wine upon which they'd finally agreed. Elton sat back and sipped his water, looking out across the crowded room. So many people, all of them of a much higher class than he. He felt like an imposter, though by rights he should have felt right at home.

"Here you are, sir."

Elton nodded and tasted the wine when it was offered, nodding his approval a moment later. The waiter poured and then took his order. Toying with the stem of his wineglass, Elton went back to crowd watching, mind drifting idly as he tried to guess what the occupants of each table were doing. He shifted his attention from a couple by the window at a flurry of noise from the front of the restaurant and saw a man rushing through like his life depended on getting to the far side as fast as possible. He was drop-dead gorgeous. Human, of the pale-skinned type from quad two like he and Lana. Very pale in this case; nearly white. Hair just past his chin, fine-looking and darker than the richest Jupiter ink. A high-necked black sweater and matching slacks, all the dark just bringing out that fine skin.

But the speed at which he walked meant he wasn't watching his surroundings as closely as he should have been, and Elton and the other diners could only watch as the man collided with a waiter, sending a tray of bread and wine flying-

-and the handsome stranger straight into Elton, who tipped over in his chair, sending them both spilling to the floor.

"Whoa," the man said, and Elton realized abruptly he was much younger than he'd first appeared. Elton was twenty-five, the man sprawled over him couldn't be much older. "Sorry about that, pretty. Nice catch though, except for the falling over bit." Fumbling about for a moment, the stranger eventually stood up and hauled Elton with him. "Terribly, terribly sorry. Tell them your stay is on me, 'kay?" Elton literally felt his brain shut down when the man, only just taller than him, stooped to kiss him briefly on the lips. "Bye, pretty. Maybe I'll see you later." With that, the stranger turned and was gone, once more rushing pell-mell across the restaurant.

The waiter's laughter, as well as the resumption of noise in the restaurant, snapped Elton from his stupor. "What-who was that?"

"That was…" the waiter glanced at a point card the man had shoved into his hand. "Master Baxter." And though he'd hesitated on the name, he was clearly surprised Elton had been completely ignorant.

"Ah," Elton said, too uncertain now to admit he still had no idea who the man was talking about.

"Shall I bring the entrée, sir?" the waiter asked, eyeing the mess created by Master Baxter. "We have already prepared a new table for you."

"Please." Elton shook his head, the humor of the situation finally striking him. "Does that happen often?"

"At least once a week."

Elton nodded and let himself be led to the new table, which wasn't far from his previous seat and afforded an even better view of everything. When his entrée arrived he ate with a vengeance, both to counteract the fresh bottle of wine and to try and erase the memory of lips that had burned when they'd touched his, leaving a trace of something dark and spicy.

Dessert was something decadent-looking and almost too sweet, served with coffee that had been generously laced with what Elton thought was Kreska brandy. He shook his head, amused, and wondered how many guests the mysterious Master Baxter fell on that the best was brought out to appease them.

Lana was going to be furious she'd missed out, and that thought made Elton grin all the more. Of course, he was also grinning because there was far too much wine and brandy in his system. He looked up to signal the waiter to bring him a regular coffee and nearly fell out of his chair.

There was a second one. In almost every way, right down to the speed and manner in which he walked, the clothes, the pale skin and dark hair, the second was the same as the first. Stars, one man that attractive shouldn't be allowed to exist and there were two of them? Elton gripped his coffee cup, unable to look away, and wondered if he'd had far more to drink than he had believed.

Though clearly in a hurry, the new stranger noticed Elton's staring and paused at his table. "Miss me, pretty?"

Elton shook himself out of his stupor and frowned. What game was the man playing at? "No. I just wondered if you were going to knock me over like your brother did. I'd rather drink the coffee than wear it."

The man's eyes went wide with shock, and he drew a sharp breath. "What did you say?"

"I said-"

"I know what you said," the man interrupted. "How did you know I wasn't Baxter?"

Elton looked at him like he was crazy. "Isn't it obvious?" Suddenly he noticed the dead silence that had befallen the restaurant, and the wide-eyed look the waiter was giving him.

"Did you just guess?"

"No, I did not just guess." Elton stood up, then wished he hadn't. No more wine. No more brandy. Ever. "You're not that alike."

The man wore a dazed expression as he stepped forward to steady Elton. "C'mon, pretty. We're leaving."

"My name is Elton, not 'pretty.'" Elton shoved him away before he gave into the drunken urge to find out if this one tasted different from his twin. But the man held on to him, pulled him bodily against his side. Elton wanted to push him away, really he did…but if he did that he'd probably topple over. His new rule was no more alcohol.

He held on for dear life as Baxter's brother led him from the restaurant. "Do either of you know how to walk slowly?" he asked sourly.

The man laughed, and Elton could feel it vibrating in his chest. "No, not really. But I don't crash into people quite as often as Baxter." They came to a sudden halt in a private teleport lobby and Elton pulled away long enough to realize he probably shouldn't be trying to stand on his own two feet.

"What's your name?" he managed, realizing he didn't know.

Like the waiter earlier, the man seemed surprised Elton didn't already know. "Lucid," he said. "And I guess you met Baxter the hard way. C'mon, pretty - I mean Elton." He winked and guided Elton into the teleport. "Up we go."

"Up?" Elton managed, stumbling into Lucid. He started to move away, horrified at how badly the alcohol had gotten to him, but Lucid merely held him in place and punched in a long sequence of numbers.

"Up," Lucid repeated. "Our rooms are at the top of Black Dragon tower."

And suddenly Elton didn't feel so drunk anymore, as realization washed over him like a bucket of ice water. "But that's where-"

Lucid laughed against his ear, making Elton shiver despite himself. "You really didn't know, did you?"

Elton jerked away. "You're the brothers. You own Bangkok. I didn't know you were twins."

"Technically our father still owns it," Lucid said with a wink. "Come on," he said as they stopped. "We're here."

"Why am I here?" Elton stayed in the transport.

Lucid brows went up, and he reached in to grab Elton by the wrist and pull him out. "Because," was all he said.

"Thanks for clearing that up."

"You really don't know?" Lucid seemed truly amazed.

Elton shook his head. "All I know about Bangkok is that my sister is obsessed, your father is a recluse and you two more or less own it. I try not to keep up with celebrity gossip."

Lucid laughed, and Elton wondered why it had taken him so long to notice the pale blue eyes. Like aquamarines. "It's not important, pretty."

"Stop calling me that," Elton said irritably. "It's absurd."

"I wouldn't say it if it weren't true." Lucid winked again and pressed his palm to a reader on the wall. A second later a door slid open where it looked as if there hadn't been a door at all and Elton was rushed inside.

Inside proved to be as overwhelming as the man rushing him around. Elton realized dizzily that not all the alcohol had vanished from his system, and he wondered when he would wake up.

If he hadn't already figured out who the twins were, the room he was in would have been a big tip off. Silks, satins and fabrics he only knew from pictures filled his vision, along with several fortunes' worth of furniture, paintings and other decorations. All of it in green and black and silver, the soft white lights muted to give the whole a lazy, sleepy feel.

Lucid was pushing him again, pressing him down onto a couch that felt way too soft to be real furniture. It dipped as Lucid added his own weight, leaning over Elton. Fingers combed through his hair, and Elton thought wildly before Lucid kissed him that Lana would be mad he'd ruined all her work fixing it up.

It was only a brief kiss, barely more than a lingering thought, but it was enough that Elton noted one more difference between the brothers. Baxter had burned, like dark, spiced Bangkok rum. Lucid's kiss held a bite, the tart, cool taste of a potent Vrill wine. "What-" Elton wondered how he'd gotten in so far over his head. He never should have come to Bangkok.

"Rest a moment, pretty. I need to rearrange some meetings." Lucid vanished, leaving Elton alone with his thoughts.

Escape seemed like the sanest and soberest of them and Elton struggled to his feet to do exactly that. But nearly to the door - which he realized he wasn't sure how to work - it slid open to admit the bastard that had started all the trouble.

Baxter stopped and stared, confused and surprised. "Hullo, pretty. I thought you'd gone off, when I didn't see you in the restaurant. How'd you find your way up here?"

"I'm here," Elton said acidly, focusing on his confusion and anger. "Because your brother is insane. And would you both stop calling me pretty!"

The door slid shut as Baxter finally stepped fully into the room, hands coming up to slide through Elton's hair, down his back, gently tugging him close and soothing him despite his best efforts to be thoroughly pissed off. They made him dizzy. Baxter started to speak, but Elton could hear Lucid reappearing behind them, from whatever room he'd wandered off into. "Luc? What's going on?" Baxter stroked Elton's cheek before letting him go to stride over to his brother.

Lucid gave his brother a kiss in greeting - but there was nothing brotherly about the kiss. Elton thought he was going to either explode or pass out. He was quiet and boring - this wasn't just out of his range, it was beyond his comprehension. Why was he here?

"What's going on Luc? Not that I'm complaining. We haven't had fun in too long." Baxter nipped at the fingers that danced teasingly over his lips.

"Yeah, I'd like to know what's going on too." Elton backed as far away from them as he could get, hoping that if he pressed against the space where the door was maybe it would be good enough to open for him.

Lucid draped his arms over his brother, who had turned to face Elton dead on. "First, pretty prefers to be called Elton. Second - he can tell us apart."

Elton frowned, confused, when Baxter showed the same shocked expression his brother had before. "You say that like it's impossible to do! Don't tell me I've been brought up here for such a stupid reason. Can I leave?"

Baxter shook himself and slid free of his brothers hold, and they both approached Elton, who really wished the wall would open up. "Can you really tell us apart?" he asked, voice full of wonder, curiosity and the painful sort of hope Elton had finally lost a term ago, three days after his father had died.

"Yes, I can." Elton looked at them, utterly bemused. "There's no such thing as two people being exactly alike. I don't care what studies have been done, what experiments were run with clones and whatnot. It just isn't possible. You two look almost exactly alike," his hand twitched, wanting to touch, but Elton held back. "But you're still different."

"How?" Lucid asked, a trace of bitterness in his voice. "Until we were twenty-two we did everything we could think of to make people see us differently. No one ever could. Our father gave up trying to tell us apart years ago - all he ever calls us is "son." Even our mother couldn't keep us straight…though she at least tried for a bit."

Baxter nodded. "Friends couldn't tell us apart. Neither could lovers." Oh, there was a world of hurt and anger in that simple sentence.

"You're different," Elton insisted. Suddenly it seemed important to convince them of this, though only seconds ago he'd thought the whole thing idiotic. "A slight difference in the way you carry yourself." He pointed at Baxter. "The way you hunch slightly forward." Turned to Lucid. "The way you hold your head, like you're looking over a crowded room." Elton shook his head, not sure how to explain the differences he'd unconsciously noted. "Your smiles tilt differently." He fell silent, thinking, wishing he could better explain what he meant. "There are differences," he said lamely, frustrated. Fighting with his alcohol-clouded mind, Elton latched onto the one thing he knew he understood. "Like diamonds. They all look the same to most people. I could hold a Cela next to an Earth and no one would know the difference. But they're there, if you know how to look. They…sparkle differently."

Lucid and Baxter smiled, surprised and pleased by what he'd said. Elton thought it was the prettiest thing he'd ever seen. There was no way he was going to leave this room wholly intact.

Baxter touched him first, sliding a hand up his chest-Elton could swear he felt it burn through his linen shirt- around to cup the back of his head and then all he knew was the press of firm lips and an eager tongue, the burn of Bangkok rum and something entirely male. He let his eyes drift shut, ignoring the voices screaming in panic at the back of his head, the warnings that he'd only regret things in the morning.

Barely had Baxter abandoned his mouth to play elsewhere than Lucid took his turn, one arm braced on the wall above them, ducking his head to kiss Elton in his turn, sharp and cool where his brother was slow and hot, and underneath it all he tasted so much like Baxter but not quite. Hands played across his body, exploring and teasing, and Elton wanted to escape as much as he wanted to free his own hands to touch in his turn.

He wished he could blame it on the alcohol when his hands started touching, fighting with sweaters and the touches to his own body, and then whole room was spinning upside down, all around, then precariously seemed right side up again. Elton realized they were on the couch, then closed his eyes again because keeping them open made him dizzy. Lucid took his mouth again, which didn't help the dizziness at all but made it far more tolerable.

"Can you still tell the difference, pretty?"

Elton froze, and slowly opened his eyes, looking between the men above him. "Am I here just because I can tell the difference between you?"

Lucid frowned, his own passion--clouded eyes growing more focused. 'No."

"Definitely not," Baxter said, kissing his cheek, hand stroking Elton's belly where his shirt had been pulled up. "I was going to kidnap you anyway. I went back to the restaurant to find you. We like pretty boys that don't mind our close relationship."

"And how did you know I wouldn't mind? Because I didn't."

Baxter leaned up from where he knelt on the floor to kiss first Lucid - stars was that an image burned forever into his brain - and then Elton.

Elton clung to the twins for dear life, unable to do more than go along with whatever they wanted.

"Bax can always tell," Lucid said, and Elton had to think for a moment before he remembered what they'd been discussing. "It's just that before we might have asked, or done the whole dinner, night out seduction thing. But telling us apart - that's a dream come true, pretty." Lucid kissed him, slow and soft and sweet. "We don't let dreams get away."

Elton shook his head, fighting the twin distractions driving him insane. "And how do you know you even like me? What if telling you apart is the only good thing about me?"

"Details," Baxter said, hands and lips putting an end to Elton's protests. "That's what tomorrow is for."

It was like being doused with ice water. Only a hazy, distant thing until then, hearing Baxter mention tomorrow was a dose of reality. There would be tomorrow…but then it was all over. Even if this whole night had a chance of being more than a one-time fling - and why in the hell was he even considering it? - it simply wasn't possible. "I have to go," he said, choking. He attempted to shove the twins off him, away. There was no way he could stay, not if he wanted to avoid the pain he knew would come with morning.

Baxter and Lucid weren't having it. Lucid pulled him close, shifting on the couch until they were sitting pressed against each other, Baxter moving into the empty space on his other side. They each kissed his cheeks. "We're sorry, pretty."

"I guess we're too used to having our way all the time."

Elton shook his head, soothed despite himself by their gentle touches. It was foreign and right all at once, and he wished again he could blame the alcohol for making him feel like this was right. He'd known them barely more than an hour - and he didn't even know them!

Maybe it was the alcohol thinking. "I have to go," he repeated. "You don't understand."

"Don't understand what?" Baxter pet his hair, soothed a hand down his spine.

Elton tried to pull away from the touches, but that only pressed him closer to Lucid. Getting away was impossible. His eye was caught by the glimmer of gold - the watch on his right wrist. He swore he could feel the mark beneath the watch burning, leaving holes in things that already had too many of them.

Holes that seemed to fill every time the twins touched him, spoke in those soft, persuasive voices. "Don't ask. Just please - let me go."

"Only if you really hate things that much."

Elton struggled to get away, turning desperate. "It's not that I hate it!" He gave up when he realized his struggles did nothing more than tangle them all together more. "It's not hate," he said again, miserably. "Please, I can't stay. I never should have let you-"

Fingers pressed against his lip, replaced by lips that carried a slow burn. "Pretty, whatever's wrong we can fix it. Don't you know that?"

"He doesn't," Lucid said. "Not a bit of it. Didn't even know who we were, Bax."

Baxter blinked, then smiled. Elton thought anyone who couldn't see the differences in their smiles was an idiot. Lucid's smiles were quick, smooth. Baxter's were slower, crooked, more in his eyes. He captured Elton around the waist and moved until he lay on his back, Elton spread across his thighs, and dragged him down for a kiss that sent every thought in Elton's head spinning away. "Whatever you want is yours for the asking. Name it, we'll give it to you." Baxter held him close, almost desperately. "Anything."

Elton lay against him for a moment, eyes closed, fingers tight in the fabric of Baxter's sweater. Lucid's fingers he could feel in his hair and along his back and he wanted nothing more than to stay there forever. It would be so easy to ask…but it wouldn't be right. He and Lana had, though unintentionally, made their own mess. If he wanted to stay and find out if there could be something with Baxter and Lucid, starting off by asking them to fix his problems wasn't the way to do it. No relationship begun that way ever lasted. It certainly hadn't with his mother and father, and it hadn't worked with his own first and - until now - last attempt. But still the words hurt, burned in his throat, in his chest, as he spoke them "Then let me go." His eyes he kept closed, unable to open them and see how they reacted.

The twins stilled, and looked at each other in silence for a long moment. They nodded. "Then stay the night, pretty. We'll let you go in the morning. All right?"

"All right," Elton said, still unwilling to open his eyes.

"Now don't go to sleep on us yet, pretty. If we only get you for tonight, we've got lots of playing to do."

Elton shook his head slowly back and forth, still half-convinced the entire night was nothing but a wine and brandy dream. "None of this seems real."

"You're telling me," Baxter replied, nibbling at his lips. "Can you really tell us apart, pretty?"

And Elton would have taken offense, but there was so much wistful longing in that voice, he could only moan and leaned down for a real kiss. "I could tell you apart blindfolded."

Lucid hissed. "Pretty."

Then Elton's world went spinning wildly out of control again, and he clung to the twins, content to let them control their one night.

*~*~*~*

"Oh my god!" Lana didn't wait for him to enter the room, but began speaking - shouting really - the moment he opened the door. "I've heard all kinds of things about you! Is it true?" She launched herself from the chaise by the windows, all but running across their hotel room toward him -- then stumbled to an awkward halt, nostrils flaring at the way he smelled, eyes growing as large as dinner plates as she took in his disheveled appearance. "Oh my god! It is true! You won the Jewels of Bangkok!"

"The what?" Elton looked at her, barely understanding a word she said. "We have to go."

"What? We can't go. Are you crazy?" Lana stopped. "Babe, what's wrong?"

Elton shook his head. "We have to go," he repeated roughly. "Lana, please. I can't-they shouldn't-we're-"

"Give me fifteen minutes to pack," Lana said somberly, eyes sad and intent on her brother. "Of course we'll go, Ellie. I wasn't thinking. Fifteen minutes, swear."

Thirty minutes later they were checked out of the hotel. Another twenty of arguing with tellers about changing their tickets and they were on a star hopper home

"All right, little brother - let's have the details. You can't look that miserable and expect to get away with not telling your sister a thing."

Slowly, haltingly - leaving out certain scenes and details - Elton related what had occurred. He finished by letting his head thud against the shuttle window.

"Oh, Ellie..."

"I know, I know. I should've asked..." Elton closed his eyes. "But I couldn't, you know? It wouldn't have been right."

Lana smiled softly, wrapped him up in her arms, smelling like vanilla and cinnamon, and kissed his brow. "Of course you did the right thing. I wish you hadn't had to do it though. As miserable as you look, they must have made you really happy ."

Elton closed his eyes and clung to his sister, and almost didn't get the words out, they were so hard to say. "I could have stayed forever."

Hugging him closer, burying her face in his hair, Lana held him for several minutes. "Okay, enough serious. We've already got more of that than I can stand."

Elton laughed despite himself and sat back in his seat.

"Twins, huh?" Lana grinned. "Wow, I didn't know you had it in you."

"Lana!"

"What? Okay, okay. We'll pretend I'm suitably horrified and disgusted for twenty seconds. Ready? Go." A silence fell as Lana folded her arms and glared at him, looking every inch the stern, unbending matron.

Exactly twenty seconds later she broke into a wide grin. "So give details. Twins are going to be hard to beat. Especially the Jewels of Bangkok. I don't think there is beating that."

"That's the second time you've called them that," Elton said, curious but also desperate to get away from the details he didn't want to discuss. "Why?"

Lana laughed at him. "Only you, Ellie, could spend a night with the Jewels and not realize what exactly it is you're doing."

"Oh I knew what I was doing. Sort of." Elton turned red and shut up.

"Oh, really?"

"Jewels! Explain!"

"Okay, okay. Like I said - only you. Ellie, they're half the reason people visit Bangkok. Even you should've heard this story."

"Just tell me now."

"The crux of it is that no one can tell them apart - not a single soul. Not their parents, not their doctors, not their friends or lovers. If they pretended to be each other for a day no one would ever notice. People say they do it all the time; that they're so good on picking up what the other's done or said that you never know if you've spoken to one or both."

Elton thought back to the restaurant, and what had set off his life-changing comment - that Lucid had acted like he was Baxter when he saw Elton, and acted as though it were perfectly acceptable to do so. "So let me guess - they finally got fed up?"

"Something like that. Story goes that one of them brought his lover to a big banquet - though I wonder now if they were sharing…" She looked thoughtfully at Elton.

"Story," Elton said sharply, cheeks heating with embarrassment even as his chest ached with loss.

"Apparently the guy made no effort whatsoever to tell them apart, despite the fact that he should have been trying more than anyone else. It's said he started getting drunk, and began to mix them up on purpose, then ceased to use their names and eventually settled on 'Jewels.' The brothers grew so angry with his callous behavior that they kicked him out of Bangkok."

"I don't see what any of this has to do with me and identifying them."

Lana smiled. "Apparently at some point during the whole fiasco, when everyone was really angry and cutting loose, one of the brothers declared that he would gladly give up Bangkok to find one person who knew him from his brother. Apparently the other one heard and followed it up with a more formal declaration - that to whomever could tell them apart, really tell them apart and not just guess correctly once or twice, they would give whatever was in their power to give. Whatever the winner asked. It's been a sort of informal contest ever since. People try all the time, catching the brothers together, catching them separately - you name it, someone has tried it. No one has ever succeeded. And apparently you knew only after a quick glance at each of them." Lana looked at him pleadingly. "Now you have to tell me a story - pretty please? Doesn't your sister deserve to know how you did it?" She sat back in her seat, grinning. "Not that I'm really surprised, mind. I was at first, but once I thought about it…well, if anyone could pick out the details I guess it would be you."

Elton rolled his eyes. "Gems and people are two different things."

"Details are details. Now give them."

"Baxter fell on me - surely you heard that part?"

"Yeah, and then he kissed you and vanished. And apparently he came back in later and teased you when he caught you staring…and you asked if he was going to fall on you like his brother did. The rest…well, everyone is making up their own stories." Lana looked him over. "The way you looked and smelled walking into the hotel room, I'd imagine reality far outstrips the best fantasies."

"You're my sister," Elton complained. "Stay out of my sex life. And why are you asking me to tell this story when you obviously already know it?"

"Hey, I'm just jealous."

Elton looked chagrined suddenly. "Here I am bemoaning my own fate and I haven't even asked about your evening."

Lana smiled. "I had fun. Went to the play, met a nice man and had dinner with him. Changed at the room, went out to enjoy the nightlife…then got back to hear all about how my little brother apparently scored the Jewels of Bangkok." She winked at him. "So I had all the fun I wanted, even if we're leaving a day early. And anyway…now that the fun is over…better just to face reality, yeah?" She fell silent, frowning as her thoughts meandered. "There's just got to be-"

"Don't," Elton said tightly, expression pained. "We've done this a hundred thousand times before and the results never change. We did our best, we had our fling - now it's time to face reality."

"Except they're not our facts to face! It was all his fault," Lana's eyes brimmed with tears, so far from her usual smiles and jests. "He used us, he made us sign those papers. He took them all away from us and now we're--" She choked. "We shouldn't have to face arrest because he tricked us into everything. We didn't-why won't anyone help us?" Lana dissolved into tears, and it was Elton's turn to hold her.

He sighed softly, bitterness creeping into his voice though he tried to keep it out. "Because if any of them had really cared about us, they wouldn't have let him do the things he did. It doesn't matter. It's over. We'll see each other again one day, and we'll still have the Lady's Heart and Dark Sisters. Everything will be okay again one day. We just…have to get through the hard stuff first."

Neither pointed out how far away that positive future was. Even with all the bargaining there were more violations stacked against them than he could believe. It had made him dizzy, three day after his father died - almost two years exactly after their mother finally gave up living - to realize that the officials on his doorstep hadn't come to discuss a will; they'd come to "work out deals" in regards to various contracts and obligations and promises apparently made by them via their father.

Working out deals had cost them everything. The jewelry store that had been in their mother's family almost since Mars become the Primary planet in the system. The jewels that were beyond price until that moment. Their house was empty of everything but a desk, a couple of old beds and food for a few more days. Everything had either been confiscated or sold to pay fines and debts that seemed to increase every day.

No one had helped - their father's 'friends' had swooped in to carry off the jewels and money they'd been after for years. His enemies had taken the rest, and the lawyers were happily collecting the crumbs of what was meant to be their family legacy and fortune. His mother's friends and their own had been scared off years ago. There was no one to help them fight, no one who would listen when they said they were innocent. That their father had used them when their mother, by some miracle, had managed to write a will that left everything to them and not her husband.

Though most fines and penalties had been paid, there was still trial to stand in a few days. What remained of their money they'd used to spend their last days together on Bangkok. Spending all their money there further guaranteed no one else would get it. They were tired of it going to people who should not have it.

In all the chaos and loss, they'd held on to only two pieces of jewelry - the only two pieces their father hadn't known existed. If he had, there was no doubt they'd be gone. Selling them would easily pay the rest of the fines and fees they still owed. But their mother had loved those pieces best, and they were all they had left.

The Lady's Heart Lana had worn on her night out was the first piece. The diamond and ruby necklace was her masterpiece - if they had shown it to their father, and the interstellar market, it would have made her famous.

The remaining piece was actually a set of two necklaces, family heirlooms their mother had never shared with their father. Two chokers made from black pearls, naturally grown and perfectly matched. Their like had not been seen since Earth had been turned into a Rehab planet.

Elton removed the watch from his wrist and thumbed the small barcode that had been marked into his skin. They'd been given them by the courts, to ensure that they couldn't run away before standing trial.

"Well…" Lana smiled weakly. "Two more days of this hellhole and we'll never have to see it again."

"That is certainly true," Elton said, and he was genuinely happy about that, even if he wasn't pleased about the rest of the situation. The house had felt more like a prison ever since he was old enough to understand that his father was the reason their mother had cried.

"C'mon. I'll fix breakfast for us."

Elton hefted their bags and followed her across the yard-then dropped them with a thud when the door opened at their approach, rather than needing to be activated. "Don't tell me the bastards helped themselves to our house? What did they hope to find? Crumbs?" Bitterly Elton shoved past his sister to finally give the men who'd finished ruining their lives the piece of his mind he'd always wanted

The door to the study was ajar, light spilling into the dark, dusty hallway floor - bare now, for they'd sold the rugs that had once been there. "Now see-" Elton grabbed the door to keep from falling. "What are you doing here?"

Lucid looked up from the sheaf of papers in his hand. Across the lenses of his In-specs words flashed and danced, information whirling past his eyes even as he looked through it to regard Elton. "Hullo, pretty. We wondered how much longer 'til you showed. Just a second, let Bax finish round three."

"Unacceptable!" Baxter bellowed, waving a hand in the air for emphasis. "Do they think I'm playing games?" He spoke furiously to a screen activated at eye level, to an older, graying man whose expression seemed to only grow calmer the more upset Baxter got. "If they want to play games, I can play. I know a lot more than they do and all their dirty little tricks." He grabbed a bundle of papers from the edge of the desk, lost completely to whatever he was raging about. "In the first three sections of this contract alone there are easily six counts of blatant disregard for the IG Code of Interplanetary Trade. And two of those disregarded codes are 9 & 17 - I'll have their firms and their balls for this. Did they think someone wouldn't notice what they're attempting? If Mr. Merrick of Merrick, Walnut and Chevro can find the time to break this many codes in one contract, never mind the violations I've skimmed over in the others, then he can find the time to contact me and discuss this face to face. And if that doesn't work, you can tell Mr. Merrick that I'm dropping professional courtesy, skipping the proper channels entirely and going straight to the High Chancellor. He's in violation of so many things I'm amazed he's not in Rehab himself."

Siler's expression finally cracked into a faint smile. "Perhaps that's why he's too busy to take calls."

"He can either take a call from me or he can answer the door when the High Chancellor's men drop by for a visit. It's his choice. Call me back." Baxter turned to his brother to make a wisecrack, then realized his brother wasn't looking at him but rather fixedly at the door. He turned, already smiling, eyes softening. "Hullo, pretty."

Elton could only stare. They were still too beautiful to be real. In matching coal-black suits, ice-blue ties, right down to the silver on their fingers and in their ears, they were every inch the ultra-elite owners of Bangkok. So different from the men who'd whirled him away for a night he'd never forget. These were the Jewels of Bangkok. Except that when they looked at him with that expression on their faces, all he saw were the Baxter and Lucid he hadn't wanted to leave. "You're not supposed to be here."

"Nonsense, pretty."

A helpless giggle interrupted them. Lana covered her mouth. "Sorry, it's just-they call you pretty? That's so cute."

"Shut up!" Elton said, more desperate than angry. He turned his attention to the twins as they approached him, and Elton felt much like he had the night before - like he was helpless prey. They reached him together, hands at his hips, in his hair, stroking his face. "Didn't we tell you, pretty? We don't let go of dreams." Baxter brushed his lips with a whisper-soft kiss. "Especially the ones that come true."

Elton shuddered, leaning into them even while his mind reminded him he'd been trying to leave. "But-I can't-it isn't right." But he didn't try to evade the kiss when Lucid leaned forward, tasting of something sweet . "You shouldn't be doing this."

Baxter pulled away, content to let Lucid hold their lover while he went back to work. "Nonsense," he said with a snort. "The only ones in the wrong here are the people that did all this and the ones who let them. I'm going to glue their asses to a starhopper and send'em through a light gate - for starters. Just wait-"

He was cut off as his screen clicked on, notifying him of an incoming call. Baxter strode over to it and accepted the call. Siler appeared on the screen. "So what's the status?"

"Mr. Merrick is still refusing our attempts at communication. He says he won't speak to anyone who isn't legally documented as Mr. and Mrs. Cullinan's representative."

"A nice ploy, but you can tell him that he'd do better to act than stall. He'll have his documentation, and he can refer to them as Master and Lady Cullinan." Baxter retrieved his papers and launched into his plans for Mr. Merrick and the court system. Elton listened, but was soon overwhelmed by the legal jargon and the rapid fire pace at which it was rattled off.

Lucid watched his brother, then shared a conspiratorial grin with Elton. "He loves this sort of thing. Honestly, when he found out he'd be getting to do battle? Possibly in court? Positively giddy. Plus fresh meat; we didn't recognize the firm that's hassling you. You should just sit back and watch him, he'll really get off on you as an audience." Laughing at Elton's expression, Lucid kissed his cheek and then wandered over to Lana. "You're the Lady Lana. Elton speaks highly of you." He reached out to take Lana's hand, and kissed it. "I have to admit I'm relieved you're not as upset by this as most would be."

Lana shrugged. "So long as you're not offended I can't tell you apart. We've got bigger things to worry about than who my brother sleeps with."

"Not for long you don't," Baxter said, pausing in his tirade to Siler. "There are so many violations in these papers I feel like I'm back in law school. It's like looking at my first year homework all over again." He spared a look for Elton. "Pretty, you should have just said something. This is easy to fix - no reason for you to leave at all."

Lucid pressed a finger to Elton's lips before he could launch into the protests written across his face. "Seriously. The only thing Bax likes more than sex is a good fight over IG law. I'm not exaggerating when I say that. You really should watch him in court next time he goes." He ducked his head to speak in Elton's ear. "It'll twist him up really good, and we can unwind him later."

Elton hoped Lana couldn't see the effect those words had. And if they were hoping to distract him from yelling at them, he had to admit it was almost working. But the protests he fully intended to voice, no matter how distracting the idea of unknotting Baxter sounded, were prevented by Baxter's sudden raging. "He doesn't think so? Oh, really? So now he's calling me a liar?"

"He thinks perhaps Master Elton has contrived a last ditch effort to escape court and Rehab."

"How did this guy get into IG law? You can tell Mr. Merrick that I dislike being called a liar, and more than that I do not take kindly to the disparaging of Master Elton. If he wants to play games, then we'll play games! And in an hour tops, he can expect the High Chancellor's men - not the Enforcers, oh no, the High Chancellor's private guard - to arrive at the firm and escort the entirety to Zero and I will see them there and then we can discuss who exactly is the liar here!"

Siler didn't bat an eye, merely punched keys on his own data system, dispersing orders. "So does that mean we can discard the first half of the agenda? The first part of the second half will need revising, to account for the direct involvement…"

Baxter nodded and began barking changes, jotting notes on his own papers, data occasionally flashing across his in-lens. He spared a glance for his brother. "No fair standing there touching while I'm working. Don't you have your own job to do?"

Lucid laughed. "Yes, Bax." He winked at Elton. "I told you he got off on it."

Elton silently conceded the point - Baxter didn't look angry at all, though Merrick was obviously proving to be aggravating. He looked more like he was having the time of his life. "Are you really going to call the High Chancellor?" he asked weakly. "Why?"

"Because I can," Baxter said with a predatory smile. He strode toward Elton and cupped his face, kissing him hard and fast. "And I'll do everything I can to see they suffer for trying to take you from us." He spun away again, leaving Elton breathless and dizzy. "How goes it, Luc?"

Elton stared dazedly at Lucid, who was sitting at his desk, alternating between a sheaf of papers, a data screen and his in-specs. "Well, of course." He grinned at his brother. "Being me makes this almost too easy."

Baxter snorted. "And you accuse me of getting off on legal battles?"

"You do."

"At least I don't get off on shopping."

"Treasure hunting."

"It's not hunting if you're buying it."

Lucid rolled his eyes. "Ask these guys, I bet they know all about the difficulties involved with tracking down very specific items and buying them from people who don't want to sell them."

Lana blinked as Baxter turned toward her, then slowly nodded. "At least with jewels, if you're doing it legally. The Fornarian ruby for the Lady's Heart took my mother and I three years to obtain…though part of that was so my father wouldn't realize what we were doing."

"What are you doing?" Elton asked suspiciously. He brushed Baxter aside and approached the desk, drawing a sharp breath when he figured it out. "You can't do that!" He buried his face in his hands. "That's going too far."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is!" Elton looked up, eyes blazing. "Some of those necklaces cause hundreds of millions of points. The jewels in them are one of a kind, irreplaceable. It isn't nonsense to buy so many of them back."

"I'm only buying back the ones originally listed as private property of the family," Lucid said soothingly. "The rest I figured could be left alone. And if it's the money that concerns you, pretty, what I'm spending now can be recovered by Bangkok in a matter of days. Money is nothing."

"Money isn't nothing! Money is what made this mess for Lana and me in the first place. Money is what ruined my mother! It's what cost me my last lover! It shouldn't contaminate this too." He tried to struggle when Baxter embraced him from behind, watching helplessly as Lucid rose from the desk and approached. "I left because I didn't want it in the way. No good comes from a relationship started like this." He turned away from Lucid's kiss. "I don't want to know that I owe you every single day of my life."

Lucid held him still and kissed him, tasting sweet and smelling of some exotic, woodsy cologne. His hair was soft where it brushed against Elton's cheeks. "Pretty, you worry too much. We're not your father and though I never met her, I'd be willing to bet you're a lot stronger than your mother." He stood up straight, brushing loose strands of hair from Elton's face, tucking his own behind his ears. From behind, Baxter's embrace loosened, brushing soothingly over him as Baxter pressed a soft kiss behind his ear. "Elton," and it was jarring, to hear them use his name. He stayed silent, pinned by the intensity in Lucid's pale eyes. "You don't owe us a single thing. Not one. We said we would give anything to the person who could truly tell us apart. You can, and proved it over and over again."

Baxter took up, voice as intense as Lucid's gaze. He turned Elton around to look at him. "Nothing we can give you could ever come close to what it means to us to know that when you look at us, you see Baxter and Lucid, not simply 'the twins.' You have no idea how much that means to us."

"But-"

"C'mon, pretty." Lucid stroked his hair, moving so that they both were watching him. "If you're still unhappy, say in a month, we'll take you wherever you want to go and never bother you again."

Elton shook his head. "That's what I mean. You're too generous."

"Generous?" Lucid snorted. "Generous nothing." He winked. "Desperate is the word you're looking for. We want you. We want you with us for as long as you'll have us. We'll do whatever it takes to keep you. It was hard enough letting you go the first time, even knowing we'd see you again in a few hours."

"Yeah, how'd you do that?" Elton frowned.

Baxter looked smug. "We're the Jewels of Bangkok. Nothing is out of our reach."

"It's true jewels are known to cause trouble," Elton said, torn between amusement and frustration. "You're both crazy. One night is not enough of a reason to do all this. It's outrageous and reckless and foolish."

Lucid nipped at his nose. "But the chance for many more nights is worth a great deal more than this."

Elton opened his mouth to protest again, but was neatly interrupted by a ringing voice. "Oh, shut up, Ellie. Know when to give up." Elton jumped, gaze jerking to his sister, still standing in the corner, smiling at them with tear-bright eyes. "Honestly, just say yes already. It's pretty obvious from here you've got nothing to worry about."

"Don't you know when to leave the room?" Elton asked in exasperation, fighting a smile. "Honestly, Lana."

"So are you going to listen to your big sister?"

Elton looked at them and gave up. "Who am I to resist adding the Jewels of Bangkok to my collection?"

 

Different From Kidnapping

Planet 1058714 (Jorgan), Doré Private Academy

"I mean it," Zon said as an added caution. "Not one word." The complacent ones always turned out to be the loudest and most aggravating. And this one was also a bit high on the ladder - that added to the instability. Whatever the report said, they never accounted for everything. He waited until the kid had put the anti-tracer on, double-checked it was on and working properly, then motioned to his men. "Let's go." He kept one hand locked firmly around the arm of their captive - to any passerby it would look as though he was helping along a sickly companion.

The teachers and headmaster had let them go with very little fuss - it was perfectly normal for Kideon Jaz-Willow to be summoned away without warning.

Zon ignored the looks cast his way by the prim and proper individuals of Doré Academy. From top to bottom he was everything they were taught to distrust and dislike - at least he'd better be. He worked hard at it.

Ignoring them allowed him to examine the captive more closely.

Kideon Jaz-Willow. Only son and heir of Finnigan Jaz and Dorla Willow. Two people who somehow managed to have a kid despite their mutual loathing. Leaving their offspring caught in the middle, the inheritor of two distinctly separate worlds.

Dorla Willow was a Vrill - what most people liked to call a walking plant, in a world of sunlight and vegetation. His father was of the Krawl race - 'cave dwellers' to most of the universe. Before technology had risen, they'd been blind, adapted to living completely in the dark. Even in present day, they were born more or less blind. Many, like Finnigan and probably his son, had their eyes 'repaired' shortly after birth.

Their union had produced quite the specimen. Pictures didn't do him justice. Kideon Jaz-Willow had skin that no doubt came from his father - completely and utterly white. Flawless. Not a single speck of color or trace of imperfection anywhere.

But he clearly wasn't albino, because his hair and eyes were shades of green that could only come from his mother. His hair was fine, twisted into loose spiral curls falling down and around his head, just past his chin, dark green like the leaves on a healthy tree. Eyes the color of a young plant. He looked like a doll, one of the antique ones that had become so popular in the first quadrant. The school uniform, dark red with silver trim, did not suit him.

Though his blank expression also flattened him, which was a pity. The kid was far too pretty to ruin his features with such a solemn face.

Well, it wasn't his concern. He was being paid to do a job. That was as far as his interest went. Zon didn't loosen his grip on the kid's arm as they entered his ship. "Get us out of here," he ordered his men. "Don't go too fast, but I don't want to see any dallying either." He tugged Kideon down the south hallway. "You come with me."

Custom Class star ship 40811945, The Darkside

The Darkside was a small ship, but it was well-appointed inside and out, and fitted with a trick that made it perfect for the work Zon and his crew did. The only ship of its kind. His eyes moved to the anti-tracking bracelet he'd made Kideon put on - completely pointless now that they were aboard but extra precautions never hurt anyone.

His quarters - a bedroom and the small office in which they currently stood - were appointed in dark greens and gun-metal gray. As he tended to keep the prisoners with him, he kept it plain and largely free of personal effects. Comfortable but boring. Zon liked to think he could make any room a bit more interesting.

"I don't recognize you," Kideon said softly. "Oh - am I allowed to talk now?"

Zon quirked an eyebrow. On anyone else, that question would have seemed smart ass. But he sensed the kid was completely serious. "Yeah, go ahead. Talk away. What do you mean you don't recognize me?"

"I thought I knew most of the people my mother employed to kidnap me. But I guess if I recognize them, so does my father. Still - she's never sent a human before. She doesn't trust anyone who isn't magics capable."

Zon laughed. "She mentioned that. Must be hard to completely distrust the race that controls the Infinitum Government. But I'm sure she's not the only one." He sat down and reclined in his chair, crossing his legs across the top of his desk. "Are you going to be troublesome? You certainly don't seem like it."

Kideon shrugged. "I used to struggle. But there's no point. I'll stay where my mother puts me for a few months and then my father will kidnap me again." He looked at Zon with something…sad and hopeful in his eyes. It hurt to look at. "I…did my mother give you a message for me? A letter? …Anything?"

"No…" Zon frowned. "Should she have?"

"…I suppose not." Kideon's voice was little more than whisper. He looked at Zon. "Would it be okay if I sat down?"

"Go ahead." Zon's frown deepened. He'd expected a spoiled brat, or a moody one - some sort of spark. Lord knew the kid's parents caused fires wherever they went. He wasn't sure what to do with the sad, silent thing sitting cautiously on the edge of a chair.

Kideon started to speak again, then closed his mouth and looked at his feet.

"What is it?" Zon asked.

"What's that strange scent?"

Zon grinned. "It's called sandalwood. I grew up in the Nippon settlement on Mars - Settlement 9 to most. It's famous for its exotic plants, especially sandalwood. Most use it for incense and the like. I like to have it onboard - keeps me from going stir crazy on the longer hauls."

"Ah," Kideon said softly. "Is that why your skin is so dark? Because you're from Mars?"

"Yeah." Zon was amused. He'd 'retrieved' more than a few people in his career and most conversations revolved around threats and promises of justice and whatnot. He'd never had a captive who was curious about the sandalwood and the color of his skin. Well, a few complained - quite loudly - about the 'smell' but that was different than asking about it.

Kideon looked curious. "I've never seen a human with your skin color. I've seen the ones that are almost black, and the red-skins from the second quadrant, and the pale ones normal for the first quadrant. But yours is…golden, sort of. Hard to describe."

Zon laughed. "Do you want to touch it? Make sure it's real skin?" He realized he was only half-joking.

"I'm sorry," Kideon said, dropping his head. "I didn't mean…I should learn to think before I speak."

"Kid, you weren't bothering me. I thought it was cute." Zon hefted his feet down and stood up. "You're the strangest captive I've ever had. Believe me; talking is a nice change from administering threats and the occasional beating."

"My name isn't Kid," Kideon replied, displaying the slightest bit of spark - maybe he wasn't completely lifeless after all. "Fr…" he fell silent. "Keon," he said finally. "Call me Keon." He looked up at Zon with eyes far too tired and old for his years - he couldn't be much more than eighteen. "And after the first three, I realized it was easier to treat kidnapping just like normal travel. Everything is easier that way."

Zon narrowed his eyes, unsettled by the words. "Just how many times have you been kidnapped?"

"Usually about twice a term," Kideon replied. "Since I was twelve. Sometimes three a term, so…including this one, about eighteen times." He laughed suddenly. "I think my parents take secret pleasure in hiding me from each other. Aren't there children's games like that?"

"Yeah," Zon said. "I played one all the time growing up, got to be very very good at them. You've been kidnapped eighteen times? I had no idea the count was that high."

Kideon nodded. "Yeah. Which reminds me - do you have my things? My Vrill needs polishing; I haven't spoken it in five months."

"Someone grabbed it, hang on." Across Zon's right eye flashed bits of light, as his In-lens communicated with the bridge. It stopped a moment later. "Someone will bring it right up. Can I trust you alone? I need to go up on the bridge for a few minutes."

"Yes," Kideon said with another polite nod, green hair tumbling around his face. "May I…get clean? If we're going to see my mother…"

Zon grinned, understanding. "Vrill are rather fussy for a bunch of talking plant people."

The ghost an answering grin flickered across Kideon's face, but he hid it quickly with another polite nod.

"Go ahead. Somehow I really don't think you're going to be trouble." At least, not of the usual sort. But if Zon wasn't careful, the kid - Keon - would be trouble of an entirely different nature. He really was pretty, and all that melancholy just begged to be kissed away.

He really needed a vacation. Kavalerov was going to give him one if he had to beat him into signing the papers.

Keon let out a long sigh of relief when the Captain - Zon, he'd called himself - finally left. The room suddenly felt much larger without him swallowing it up. Much quieter. Even when he wasn't talking, the man seemed loud - too loud. Stars, he was something else altogether. He'd had all manner of kidnappers, from the weird old man to the man who looked evil in every sense of the word - only fear of his parents, Keon had realized much later, had kept the man behaving.

Zon was...totally different. Hair to his shoulders, some of it braided, other strands beaded, the color the purest black he'd ever seen. The boots, the tight pants, tighter shirt, short jacket; all of it black, bringing out the dark gold of his skin. And then there was all the gold jewelry. Two hoops and two studs in each ear, another gold hoop in his brow. A small gold ball in his nose. A thick gold band around his throat, another on each wrist, and rings with so many jewels he hadn't been able to pick them all out. His eyes were so dark a brown they were almost black; the black pupil was barely discernible even up close.

He'd seemed nice for all that he was in the business of kidnapping. At least he hadn't seemed to care about who Keon was. The ones who debated holding him for a higher ransom always scared him a bit. Luckily that hadn't happened this time.

Keon played with the heavy metal bracelet around his wrist - an anti-tracker. Meaning that whatever track chems his parents had put in his blood, and there were more than most people could even think of, wouldn't do any good. Anti-trackers were mostly illegal - only the Infinitum Government could use them. And the IG had precious few of them, according to most.

It took a hell of a…pirate? Is that what Zon was? It took skill and something more to obtain an anti-tracker.

Shoving the thoughts aside, Keon stood and moved to the bathing chamber, dropping his clothes to the floor and showering quickly. The hot water was soothing, relaxing, but he didn't want to get in trouble by using too much of it. Climbing out again, he grimaced at his uniform. How many schools had he been stuck in over the years? At least as many as times he'd been kidnapped.

After the fourth, he'd stopped trying to make friends. A couple, way back at the beginning, he'd tried to stay in touch with. But it had been a fruitless endeavor.

So he read, and waited until his mother or father sent someone to kidnap him - though they each called it "getting you back." Did they even remember who had started it? He certainly didn't, not anymore.

He should have waited until he'd gotten his bags, so he didn't have to put the uniform back on. Keon had just reached for his pants when he heard the main door open, and in his towel he stepped out into the main room.

Stars, there the room went feeling small again. Zon was supposed to be on the bridge, not holding his bags.

And not looking at him like he was an especially strange, unknown species of animal. "Um…could I have my bag?" Keon asked in a rush.

Zon blinked. "Yeah. Sure." He tossed a faded, black duffel at Keon, who nearly lost his towel trying to catch hit.

"Thank you," Keon said, and bobbed his head in thanks before vanishing back into the bathing room and rapidly changing. Why was it so hard to breathe when Zon was around? He'd only known the man, what? A little more than an hour. And in a few more hours he'd never see him again.

Thinking of what would occur in a few more hours brought Keon's mind around to more pressing matters. He felt tired, heavy, thinking of his mother. Either of his parents, really. His mother rigid, unbending. So busy ruling the world she wouldn't even greet him, just com him once he was safely ensconced in whatever hiding place she'd selected this time. Probably another school; his mother was especially fond of schools.

His father just figured he may as well learn something while he was in hiding.

Keon rubbed his eyes and finally got dressed, choosing a soft, dark green shirt made from delicate Vrill-spun cotton and brown pants made from a heavier, sturdier fabric.

On his right hand was a heavy gold ring set with a red stone. On his left was a delicate silver ring set with a green stone. The Heir rings of Krawl and Vrill; like many planets in the thirty-ninth galaxy of the third quadrant, planetary rule had been established since the intercession of the Infinitum Government. But the IG, while it could oversee much, could not directly interfere in the matters of planetary leadership. They oversaw the galaxies, the quadrants, and the universe in general where they could. But the planets, unless the problems threatened to extend to intergalactic proportions, were permitted and encouraged to rule themselves so long as they obeyed the IG General Codes.

And so far, his parents had. Vrill and Krawl had not gotten along for three centuries. Keon still wondered how his parents had gotten together long enough to even think him up. But the union had been a valid one, for the whole year it had lasted, and so he was the valid Heir.

They just couldn't decide which planet he was to inherit. Nor could they have another Heir - he was legitimate until he was dead.

And the chances, Keon knew, of either getting a child as prize as he were pretty slim. All the magics capability of both parents, looks suitable enough for leading the notoriously vain Vrill and slight enough that the caves of Krawl would not trouble him.

Given his importance, Keon thought with glum resignation, he thought his parents would have bothered to remember his birthday. Only when he was a young child, living on a place mutually approved by his parents, had anyone remembered his birthday. And that had been his nurse.

His eighteenth birthday and not so much as a call. Just another kidnapping.

But…he was eighteen. Maybe his mother had a surprise planned? And that was why she hadn't sent a message along with Zon? Keon nodded, deciding this must be the case.

And forcefully shoved away the voice in his head that knew it wasn't true, that his mother wouldn't remember his birthday until he was twenty-one and old enough to legally be declared her Heir.

Keon wondered what they would do if he died. But he didn't linger too long on those thoughts - partly because he dreaded the answer and partly because back in the main room, and office of sorts, Zon was once more taking over the space around him, filling it with his silent, overwhelming noise.

"Hungry?" Zon looked up from the data screen he was scrolling through. "I've ordered food be brought up. What can you eat, by the way? Vrill don't eat red meat, but I know Krawls aren't terribly picky."

Keon gave another ghostly smile. "I can eat red meat in small portions. Otherwise I'm not terribly picky."

Zon grinned back. "Good to know. We've got a few days of travel ahead of us and only one or two stops, so picking up special foods would have been difficult. We brought some stuff, but not a lot as we didn't want to stock up on stuff we couldn't use."

"A few days?" Keon frowned. "But it should only take a few hours to reach anything in the galaxy. A few days means…"

"We're leaving the quadrant, yeah." Zon smiled reassuringly. "It'll be fine, don't worry."

Keon nodded. "Is my mother just on edge because I'm getting older? That would make sense."

"Getting older?" Zon's brow furrowed in confusion. "Oh - that's right. When you turn twenty-one you're legally old enough to be declared the acting Heir. So how old are you now?" He abruptly switched out of whatever was on his data screen, pulling up a file that Keon was startled to see had his picture. "I suppose I should have done more than skim this damn thing." Zon read in silence a moment, then looked up at Keon with a deep frown. "Today is your birthday."

Keon shrugged.

"…That's why you wanted to know if your mother had sent a message or something."

Not knowing what else to do, Keon shrugged again.

Zon pressed a button and his data screen vanished. "No wonder you look so sad. Do they ever do more than kidnap you?" Keon remained silent, stiffening in shock and uncertainty when Zon reached out to brush a few stray, damp curls from his face. "So what do you want for your birthday, Keon?"

"I…I don't know," Keon replied, voice a whisper. He felt strange, with Zon so close, and touching his hair, just brushing his cheek. Like he wanted to run away and lean in closer all at once. Like he was all knotted up with no way to untangle himself. "No one's ever asked." He ducked his head, immediately feeling like his words were inappropriate. Don't say a word. Don't speak. Be silent until I say otherwise. All his life he'd heard these words. He didn't know when it was all right to speak anymore, unless he was in a classroom and reciting a lesson.

"You really need to stop looking like that, Keon," Zon said, his tone of voice strange.

"Am I doing something wrong?" Keon asked anxiously.

Zon sighed. "Not in my book, you're not."

Keon looked up at him in confusion.

The sigh Zon gave that time sounded very much like defeat, and he dipped his head - Keon's eyes went wide when he realized what Zon was doing, and he would have pulled back except for the arm suddenly around his waist, keeping him place-

And he didn't really know what he was doing, but he tried to kiss back, because suddenly he knew why it was so hard to breathe when Zon was around. He knew he was clumsy, and doing it wrong, but Zon's hair felt nice in his fingers, and he tasted as exotic and strange as the sandalwood that lingered in the air, and his hands felt nice where they moved along his back, up and down his spine.

"Mmm…definitely nothing wrong with you…" Zon nibbled at his jaw, the corner of his mouth. "Trouble on two legs, Keon, but everything right."

Keon shuddered, again torn between running away and pressing close. "You're the first kidnapper to try that."

"Good," Zon said, and kissed him again, slowly coaxing Keon into a deeper one, dragging him flush against Zon's toned body.

He felt dizzy, worse than the time he'd drunk an entire bottle of Coni wine by himself on his fifteenth birthday.

"Now," Zon said finally said, pulling a bit away. "As you've finally stopped looking so damn sad - what do you want for your birthday?"

"I don't know," Keon repeated. "I really don't." He was silent, too lost in thought to notice the way his hands remained on Zon's shoulders, tangled in the fabric of his jacket. "Maybe to stop being kidnapped." He gave an awkward shrug. "But I guess that's not really possible."

Zon laughed softly. "We'll see." He leaned down to give Keon another kiss when his door chimed and opened. He glared at the man who entered, but sobered when he realized his first mate was troubled. "What's wrong?" he let go of Keon, turning back into the Captain of the Darkside.

His first mate spared them a curious look, but didn't pause in delivering his message. "She's figured it out already."

"She can't know where we are."

"No, but it won't take her long to share the news and you know what that means."

Zon grinned. "Yeah, it means the boss is going to get to issue threats even sooner than he'd hoped." He sobered. "Get back to the bridge and keep me informed. I'll let the boss know."

"Yes, sir." The first mate vanished.

"Hang on, Keon." Zon soothed his confused captive with a hand through his hair, then strode to his desk, punching a button and bringing up a large data screen on the far wall. A few more buttons called up a man Keon was shocked to realize was familiar.

A well-built, middle-aged man with short, white-blonde hair and piercing, pale blue eyes. He wore the formal black and silver uniform of the IG, the frogs fastening the robe closed at one shoulder shining in whatever light filled the room. He was handsome, solemn, and it was easy for Keon to see why he was unfailingly obeyed. "Yo-you're High Chancellor Kavalerov."

"A pleasure to meet you, Prince Jaz-Willow."

Keon shook his head. "I'm not a prince."

Kavalerov smiled, an expression made him look years young. "As you like."

"Why are you…what's going o