Shy Talent (StarLords Book 3) (12 page)

Agnor was still standing where she’d last seen him, but the number of men in the chamber had thinned considerably. They were still stationed around the huge room in a loose circle formed around Agnor, but there were less of them.

“Lady, will you come with me? I have laid out refreshments. Your man will be some time talking with Ki, and you should be comfortable.”

The woman had a tiny sliver of the crystal embedded between her eyebrows. It glistened in the sparkling light of the crystal chamber.

“I’m not sure I should leave Agnor…” Bet began, but the woman smiled and pointed toward a fissure in the rock, similar to the one they’d walked down to get here. It was another tunnel.

“We are only going into the antechamber that is five meters beyond this cavern. It is often used as a retiring room where priests can eat and drink between duties. You will not be far, and you can see your man from the opening. There is a chair positioned just for that purpose, so that one priest knows when to take over from the last.”

Bet looked from the opening to Agnor and back again. She was torn. She didn’t want to leave him, and trusting these people was hard. She had only this strange woman’s word. It could be some sort of trap. Maybe they wanted to separate her from Agnor for some sinister reason.

And Bet couldn’t let down her shields here. Not with the power of the crystal so close. She would probably black out again, which would leave her in an even worse position.

“My name is Lara,” the woman said, smiling again. “I am a priestess of Ki. All the men you have seen here are Ki’s priests, as well, of differing ranks and experiences. Ki signaled us all to come on this most momentous of days. Ki would want you to be comfortable while you wait. Ki’s understanding of time is not the same as ours. That’s why there are so many of us.”

“How does that work?” Bet asked quietly. She didn’t really understand what the woman was driving at.

“Come with me, and I will explain more, where we can talk without the possibility of disturbing them.” Lara gestured toward Agnor. He hadn’t moved. He was still communing with Ki. “The priests will watch over your man and intervene if he seems to be in distress.”

“Is that likely?” Bet got up and walked slowly toward the opening in the rock the woman had indicated. She kept one eye on Agnor, worried for him.

“If he were like us, then yes, it is probable. But we’ve already seen that you are both different. You have what Ki calls
orderly minds
. Ki is best able to communicate with that kind of mind, but also determined that nobody of that kind should live on this planet or serve as a priest.”

“That seems…” Bet thought about it for a moment, and finally realized what a few Talented minds in the collective had managed to do with little pieces of this crystal. “Oh. I see.”

Lara smiled softly. “Ki has only communicated with one other mind like yours in the time I have served as a priestess. A blue-skinned man. We all took his coloration to mean something special, since Ki is also that particular shade of blue.”

“Everyone from Liata is blue-skinned,” Bet said, thinking aloud as she sat on the stone bench where she could still keep Agnor in sight.

“So it wasn’t a sign? There is a whole world of people that color?” Lara asked uncertainly.

Bet nodded. “Liata is an agricultural world with a unique sun. I believe something in the spectrum of light emitted by its sun caused the people there to develop a blue coloration. They are all various shades of blue, from what I’ve heard. I’ve only seen a few Liatans in person. Most seem to stay on their homeworld. From what I hear, it’s a lovely place, though the collective tried to invade a while back and managed to inflict a lot of damage on the surface.”

“What is the collective?” Lara looked suspicious.

“Agnor and I…we come from a group of worlds ruled by the Council. It is a form of government where a large group of Talented people rule as a group. The Council makes laws and policy for all the worlds under Council control. Our biggest enemy is the collective.” Bet wondered how much she should say and decided honesty was the best policy since it was likely that Ki already had seen everything in her mind already. “The collective is ever-expanding and frequently attacks Council worlds, trying to take over. Every few years, there’s a different incursion and many Council citizens are either killed or captured if the invasion isn’t stopped in space.”

“That sounds awful,” Lara murmured, giving Bet a mug filled with what looked and smelled like some kind of sweet fruit juice. “What do they do with the captives?”

“The collective imprisons any Talented mind and steals their power. The non-Talented citizens are mostly left alone, though they have to adhere to collective laws and policies—which includes a yearly tithe of people. Young Talents are taken away from their families, and their minds trapped. Others are taken for the collective’s vast army.”

“They steal children from their families?” Lara frowned.

“Sadly, yes. I know for a fact that Agnor’s friend, Jana, was stolen from her family when she was just a teenager. Her parents were murdered, and her sister, Jeri, ran away, evading capture. When the collective invaded Liata, Jana was leading the armada. She was completely under the control of the collective’s puppet masters.”

“How does that work? Did she not realize what she was doing?” Lara asked.

“The collective doesn’t allow independent thought among those minds it imprisons and uses. Only a few minds are free in the collective, and they direct the rest. Jana testified before the Council that she heard what she called the Voice of the collective in her mind at all times and was only free of it at short intervals.”

“That’s…” Lara seemed at a loss for words.

“Yeah, it’s pretty terrible,” Bet agreed.

“Ki brings order, but if it is not by choice, it is a grave misuse of Ki’s innate power. We know this is the will of Ki. We know some of the dangers Ki can be for unprotected minds. Your minds. Not ours. We don’t have the right kind of order for Ki’s power, which makes it both harder, and safer, for us to serve.”

“Well, we came here because Jana discovered where the collective had been obtaining the crystal. She had a control scepter in her hand when the armada she was leading in attack on Liata exploded. Jana now has many splinters of that crystal embedded in her skin, and her mind is finally free of the collective’s control.”

“Why didn’t she come here herself?” Lara wanted to know.

“Jana has been through hell,” Bet said honestly. “She is only just experiencing freedom for the first time since she was a teenager. She is also newly mated and reunited with her little sister, Jeri. I can’t blame her for wanting to stay with her family, now that she finally has one again. Besides, Agnor is a Specitar—a scientist. As are most of the crew of his new ship. It was decided that they would be the best able to deal with whatever we might find here.”

“Are you also a scientist?” Lara asked.

“Oh, no. I’m the Loadmaster of the ship. I’m responsible for the balance, distribution and inventory of the cargo. I’m also…” She blushed, having never admitted this aloud to anyone. “Agnor and I are lovers. It was his Executive Officer who foresaw that both of us should come down to the planet. She has the ability to foresee possibilities for the future.”

“Such skills are beyond us,” Lara admitted, “but seem wondrous. And you can move things with your mind. I saw what you did. It was very impressive.”

Bet was about to reply when she saw Agnor stagger and then move clumsily. A priest ran forward to catch him before he fell, and Bet was on her feet and into the cavern before Lara could say anything. Bet ran over and put her arm around him, supporting him on one side.

“Are you all right?”

“Fine,” Agnor said, breathing heavily. “I’ll be fine in a minute. It was just a lot to take in. Almost an overload, but I’ll be all right. Ki understands our minds better now, I think.”

“It is true.” The first man who had spoken with them was back, standing in front of Agnor with a phalanx of men behind him.

Bet gasped, worried. Was this going to turn ugly? She sincerely hoped not.

“Ki gives you this gift of itself.” The man gestured to the men behind him as he stepped back to allow them to move forward. Each carried a crystal in their hands, each one of different size and shape.

“Ki wishes you to make a study and determine how to make yourselves safe from tyranny. Ki is not a tyrant. Ki does not wish its power to be used to enslave others. Ki craves order, not that individual people be made slaves to it.”

Bet didn’t really understand, but Agnor nodded, recovering as he took deep breaths. He leaned less on Bet and eventually stood on his own again, the priests facing him, watching him closely.

“Ki does not understand regret, but we do.” Lara came forward to speak for the group. “We took the blue man’s color as a sign. Looking for portents is, perhaps, a purely human failing. We gave that man the small shards of Ki that occasionally spall off from the main. It was our decision. Our mistake. Our regret.”

Agnor kept his silence, and Bet didn’t really know what to say. Lara seemed so sad.

“We can fix it,” Bet offered. “It won’t be easy, but our people have been trying to free those caught by the collective for a long time. They’ll find a way.”

“I hope you are right,” Lara said, then turned toward the path they had taken into the cavern. “I hate to rush you, but over the years, we have become aware how closely our planet is monitored by the blue man’s friends. If you are able, sir, you should be on your way as soon as possible. My friends will carry the spallings to your ship and help you settle them. Then they must go back to their areas so the watchers don’t get too suspicious.”

“I can make it,” Agnor said with quiet dignity.

He still seemed pale, as if he’d been through something Bet couldn’t quite understand while he’d been communing with Ki. She was curious but counted herself lucky, in a way, that she’d passed out. Agnor looked terrible.

She stuck by his side, allowing him to lean against her shoulder from time to time as they reversed their path back to the ship. The priests were fewer in number, but still with them. And those who carried the so-called spallings were walking with both speed and reverence.

They arrived back at the ship to find it undisturbed. The priests were very efficient in loading the spallings, each of which had a protective pouch made of some natural fiber that was both lightweight and strong. Bet eyed the cargo carefully as it loaded. It would be protected in the fiber cloth, but she quietly directed the priests to place the heavier items in certain locations, careful to balance out the load. Such things would be crucial as they broke through the atmosphere.

Finally, only the main priest and Lara were left. They exchanged formal goodbyes, and Bet thanked the woman for her kindness. The priestly couple retreated, and then finally, Agnor and Bet were free to leave Ipson. Agnor had recovered a bit on the journey back from the cavern, but his color was still a bit pale.

He was able to maneuver the shuttle up through the atmosphere with quiet competence, but he frowned as they started to reach thinner air, miles above the surface. Bet observed him closely, unsure how to help, but ready to step in if he needed her.

“They weren’t kidding about being watched,” Agnor commented. “We couldn’t see them on approach, but from underneath, the sky is filled with satellites. We’re lucky we didn’t hit anything on the way down.” He made a few maneuvers while Bet kept a careful eye on the load of crystals in the back of the small craft. So far, so good. “Hmm. They’re going to see that,” he muttered. “And…yes. They’ve detected us. See the attitude of that satellite? It changed to track us. As have the others. Damn.”

“What can I do?” Bet asked, trying to be helpful, but feeling quite useless.

“Power down all non-essentials. We don’t need comms. I can ‘path the ship. In fact, I already have. They’re moving into range, matching course and speed. If we can just get there before…”

They both saw it at the same time.

“Oh, shit.” It wasn’t very ladylike, her aunt would have said, and it was definitely a ground-dweller’s term, but it fit the gravity of their new situation.

They watched three enemy ships move out, in formation, from behind a small moon. Other ships did the same from behind another. And then, more made themselves known in other parts of the system. All were broadcasting one message:
Surrender.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“No way in hell,” Agnor said as he implemented more evasive maneuvers.

Whether the enemy had spotted the
Calypso
or the shuttle, or both, he wasn’t sure. Whatever the case, he had no intention of surrendering. Not in this lifetime.

“Divert all power to the shields. We’re almost to the
Calypso
.”

Bet, bless her heart, was following his commands as if she’d always been on the bridge of a vessel about to come under attack. She was as professional as he could have hoped. She wouldn’t fall apart on him. At least, probably not until after they’d escaped. He wouldn’t mind it then. About that time, he figured, he’d need a hug too.

An energy weapon clattered against their shields, lighting up the interior of the shuttle with angry red sparks. But the shields held while Agnor ‘pathed instructions to Lilith.

A moment later, the
Calypso
was taking the hit, blocking the barrage to the shuttle while Agnor flew it as fast as he dared into the bay.

He’d barely shut down the engines when he felt the
Calypso
sway dangerously.

“That wasn’t a beam weapon,” Bet whispered, her fingers still flying over the consoles as she helped him shut down the craft.

“Missiles.” Agnor unbuckled his safety harness and headed for the exit. “Can you shut down and take care of the cargo?”

Bet looked up and met his gaze for one timeless instant. Emotions passed between them in that moment out of time that they had never spoken aloud. He wanted her to know how he truly felt about her, but there was no time. There would never be time if he didn’t get to the bridge and evade the collective’s armada.