Apex (24 page)

“Do you have a map of Concordat installations?”

The Elari nodded and sent the Fret off to retrieve it.

“I am curious, though, as to what weaponry your ship possesses,” the Captain asked. “Our battle records indicate some type of plasma weapon?”

Riax nodded. “I made a little upgrade.”

“You are both warrior and tech?”

“My clan specializes in technical attributes, and we are encouraged to pick up at least a level 1 rating in that discipline in addition to others, though my highest rating is in naval combat.”

The Elari seemed to sit up a bit straighter. “You are a commander?”

“My rank is Colonel, which has afforded me command of several ships and even a task force on occasion.”

“Tell me, Culnel. How large was your Human fleet?”

Riax laughed. “A good question. I only know the approximate size of the Beta fleet . . . my clan's fleet. We had over 300,000 warships this size or larger.”

“Battleships?” the Elari repeated.

“Or bigger.”

“What was your largest ship class?”

“Well, I'm not going to discuss all our variants, but we fielded a
Behemoth
-­class warship that was . . . five times the length of this ship,” Riax explained, getting caught up on the length measurement conversion. Ella was translating everything that was said for him while subsequently feeding him the commerce language translation for every word he said. It was highly difficult to manage, but the telepathic powers of both races were formidable enough to tackle the challenge. That, and Riax didn't want the mercs knowing that he couldn't speak their language.

Fortunately he didn't have to worry about Ella's playing any pranks on him, because he literally didn't know what he was saying, only pronouncing the words she fed to him. Had she wanted to she could have had him saying whatever she liked.

“I've never known of a warship that large,” the Captain said. “Is it also a jumpship?”

“No, a pure warship,” Riax confirmed as the Fret returned. He placed a holoprojector in the center of the table and a floating map of the local star systems appeared above the remains of their dinner.

“Where are we?” Riax asked.

“Here,” the Captain said, realigning the map so it centered on their position.

Riax looked at the scattering of dots indicating Concordat facilities. “We are headed into Cres space,” Riax said, noticing the large blue-­highlighted region on the edge of the map, “by way of Iras.”

The Fret highlighted the system in question.

Terrek nodded. “You hope to access the Yiori jumpship routes.”

“You know of a better way to get to Cres space?” Riax asked, picking up on the Captain's thoughts.

“Possibly. Why haven't the Cres sent a ship to pick you up?”

“They don't know where we are,” Riax explained.

“You have no way of contacting them?”

Riax suppressed a grimace. Technically he did now have the technology to send a signal to the Cres that they could receive and interpret after a month's delay. Problem was, conversations with Ivara had revealed that the Cres suspected a security leak that had led to the increased scrutiny of the dig site where his pod had been recovered. And if someone out there knew how to intercept and decode Cres signals, they could be asking for more trouble by sending a request for help. For now it was safer to be as anonymous and unpredictable as possible.

“Save for a courier ship we don't have, no. But then that would defeat the point anyway.”

“The Concordat owns a number of small jumpships, not large enough to carry this battleship, but they should be able to fit your freighter. Trouble is, I have no way of knowing exactly where they are at this moment. The Elder said she was redirecting all available help into your flight path. I assume that would include our jumpship fleet. Even if not, there are several systems where the jumpships make regular stops.”

Riax stood up and walked around the perimeter of the table and stood next to the Captain, beginning to go over possible course deviations based on where they had current resources. Several systems the Captain dismissed immediately, based on his knowledge of rival merc strongholds and unfriendly system defense fleets. After more than an hour of insightful debate they'd come to a mutual agreement about how to proceed. One that made Jalia more than nervous.

They were going to pass through the Jptal System, two jumps away, and home of the Xiats.

 

Chapter 26

“H
EY
,
YOU
FEELING
sleepy yet?” Jalia asked mirthfully as she walked off the shuttle and back onto the
Resolute'
s deck.

Riax frowned at her as Ella walked by the pair and headed elsewhere. “I do believe I won our bet. We didn't exactly get into a fight with the Concordat.”

Jalia stood firm and crossed her arms over her chest. “I do believe,” she said, mimicking Riax's tone, “we bet on whether they would bother us or leave us alone . . . and sending a warship to escort us isn't exactly keeping to themselves, not to mention them having me bring down my ship on their landing pad.”

“Well, ok, that one was their idea, but you're missing the point. They didn't shoot at us.”

“Didn't leave us alone either,” Jalia argued. “They were even inside your base.”

“Fine,” Riax relented. “We both win. I'll spend the night with you in your sleep pod while I dig the commerce language out of your memory.”

Jalia blinked in confusion. “I thought you'd already learned it. You were just speaking it on the battleship.”

“Ah, no, that was Ella translating for me.”

“But you were saying the words . . .”

“That she was translating for me,” Riax reiterated.

“Really? I didn't notice any lag.”

“We're good,” he said, walking off from the shuttle. Jalia hung off his right shoulder perkily.

“But it seems you still need me for lessons . . . or a download,” she added, slightly less enthusiastically.

“It seems so.”

“So . . . are you sleepy yet?” she asked again, smiling.

Riax laughed. “Alright, you win. Naptime now, work on
your ship
will have to come later.”

“It can wait,” she said, walking around to his left side and locking her arm around his. “Right now you need your rest. When you invited me to dinner I didn't expect you to be fighting.”

“That?” Riax scoffed. “That was just a warrior's handshake. The Elari operate mostly on ego, and it's necessary to establish your standing early on. Different races, different attitudes, different ways of making friends,” he added with a smile.

“Most I've known have been rather pleasant.”

“That's because they don't see you as a threat.”

“Hmmn, I hadn't considered that. Then again, most ­people would never fear a Junta.”

“That's because they're ignorant of your skills,” Riax said seriously.

Jalia looked over at him, being nearly the same height. “Me in particular, or all of us?”

“Your race was once our ally, and for good reason,” he said as they walked up an exit ramp from the bay. “You have more latent skills than you're probably aware of.”

“The Cres called me a tracker . . .”

“Quick-­witted too,” Riax added. “Yes, your kind made for excellent scouts and combat support. You may not mass as much as other races, but your speed and strength are above average, though most ­people wouldn't guess that from looking at you.”

Jalia frowned. “I must be the runt of the litter then.”

Riax shook his head. “You're just not trained. The latent strength, speed, and agility are there. Trust me.”

“I am a fairly good runner,” she agreed.

“Oh? I've been meaning to start training again. Want to get a workout in before we head to bed?”

“Not today,” she said, gripping his arm even tighter. “But I'll be happy to kick your butt tomorrow.”

“Be warned,” Riax cautioned. “Challenges are like candy to Humans.”

“Ouch,” she said mirthfully. “With the way you eat that's saying something.”

“You'd eat as much as me if you were in shape. You've got as high a metabolism as us, more so if I wasn't upgraded.”

“Upgraded how?”

“Higher end genetically engineered abilities that we have to earn. They're a bit of a power hog, but extremely useful.”

“Such as?”

“Remember what I did when I rescued you from the mercs?”

“I remember you taking their weapons . . . and being naked,” she added with a smirk.

“Remember me knocking them around?” he asked.

“Vaguely.” That moment in her memory was a bit of a blur.

“I was generating an energy matrix that, when released, applies concussive force. It eats up a lot of energy, so my metabolism was altered higher to match.”

“I don't remember that, but at the time I was just glad I didn't get shot.”

“The energy is invisible, but it creates a ripple in the light passing through it,” he said, reaching his hand out perpendicular to both of them. He made a fist and it blurred with what looked like heat waves, but Jalia didn't feel any and she still had hold of his arm at the elbow.

Riax flicked his wrist up and the blur jumped toward Jalia's head. Her headtails bounced as if hit with a gust of air, then flopped back down against her slim neck.

“Easy,” she teased. “Those are kind of sensitive.”

“That's the idea,” he said as they reached the top level, heading for the crew quarters. “If you can't see it, you have to feel it.”

“Any other powers I should know about?”

“Not unless you're planning on picking a fight,” Riax said as Jalia pulled him in the direction of her quarters.

“You'd know if I was before I could throw a punch,” she countered. “Must be pretty handy being able to get inside ­people's minds.”

“Can be, but not all are accessible, and I don't monitor everyone constantly. So you might be able to sneak up on me if you were devious enough.”

“So where's your tender spot? If I'm going to jump you someday I figure I'll have about a second and a half before you own me. Need to make the most of the opportunity while I have it,” she said deadpan.

Riax suppressed a laugh. “We don't really have a soft spot, but in my case it'd be a kick to the crotch.”

“So that'll take you down?”

“Depends how hard you kicked.”

“Hmmn, but I'd have to be in front of you to do it. You'd see it coming.”

“Lucky me,” he said as they reached her quarters. Jalia led him inside then shut and locked the door behind them.

“Interesting,” Riax said as he spied the pod. “Your race didn't used to use these. They preferred antigrav chambers.”

Jalia frowned as she left the door and walked up beside him. “Never heard of it,” she said as she started getting out of her dress.

“It's a vertical cylinder that reduces gravity to less than 1% so you can sleep standing up without significant pressure on any point of your body.”

“That'd be nice,” she said, folding up her black dress and setting it in a collection bin. “This pod is soft, but it still bothers my tail sometimes.”

“You always sleep naked?” Riax asked.

“The pod adjusts to body temperature, so clothes just get in the way,” she explained as she untied her headtails, letting them flop down on her shoulders. “Is that a problem? You didn't strike me as the shy type.”

“No,” Riax said, laughing. He mentally triggered his bodysuit's release and four seams appeared on his collar, extending down his torso. He peeled the upper suit off his body then pulled away the shoe pieces as they also broke off along hidden seams.

“That's . . . cool,” Jalia commented as she watched him step out of his pants with the torso pieces flopping to the side like a partially peeled silanna pear.

“Telepathically triggered,” he explained, wadding up the bundle, including shoes, and holding it up to show her. “It even glows.”

Several invisible lines suddenly lit up bright white, darting in and out of the bundle.

“Your clothing is powered?” she asked, laughing once.

“Kinetic and environmentally recharged,” he said, deactivating the lights and setting it aside on Jalia's desk as the Junta stepped over to the illumination controls. She killed the main lights, with only the glow from the status lights showing in the otherwise pitch black room.

“How good are your eyes?” she asked, walking over to the pod.

“Good enough,” he said, waiting a heartbeat for them to adjust to the low light conditions. When they did he made out Jalia's thin, nude outline climbing into the open half of the sleep pod. Riax walked over and looked inside. Her red skin appeared black amidst the blue/green glow. She slid over to the far side, giving him just enough room to slide in beside her.

Missing his right arm made climbing in a bit of a challenge, but he managed to lever himself up and over the edge of the meter-­high pod and roll into its shallow depression beside her.

“Cozy,” he commented, wiggling around to face her as his head dropped below the invisible barrier of the shield that contained the atmosphere inside the pod to maintain the desired temperature. Their legs bumped into each other and Jalia's ample chest was barely two centimeters away from his.

“Way better than the bunk you've been using.”

“True,” he admitted.

“So,” she said, running a finger across his chest. “What do Humans sleep in?”

“Whatever we want. I usually sleep in a ceiling pod.”

“What's that?” she asked, her breath warm on his face.

“A sleeping pad on the ceiling within an inertial dampening field to negate the pull, then a localized gravity generator to keep you in place. When you wake up, you just push up off the pad and drop down to the ground. It saves floor space in small quarters.”

“Do you always talk like a tech?”

“Just answering questions before they're asked.”

“Like what?”

“Like how do you stay on the ceiling without falling on your face?”

She snorted a laugh. “That does sound a bit like something I'd say.”

“So . . . how do two typically sleep in here? Humans usually sleep alone.”

“Lay down and I'll adjust to you,” she said, scooting back a bit until she touched the wall with her legs. Riax slid over and laid down on his back, then Jalia leaned over and half laid on top of him with her face resting against his neck. “Humans sleep alone?”

“Usually,” Riax said, feeling his back sink into the soft pod. In retrospect it was
much
better than the hard bunk he'd been sleeping on.

“Don't you ­couple?” she asked. “I mean, other than mating.”

“Not really, no. And we don't mate either. Humans aren't sexual.”

“What do you mean?” Jalia asked, taken aback.

“We're not sexual,” Riax repeated. “We used to be a long time ago, but not anymore.”

“Then what are these for?” Jalia asked, gently grabbing his genitals.

“Purely vestigial, aside from redundant hormone production. I could have them removed from my genetic code if I wanted, but I never really saw the need . . . though I did question that decision the last time I got kicked there. It's a very
unique
type of pain.”

“Whoa, hold on a second here,” Jalia said, lifting herself up and over top of Riax, straddling him and crossing her arms over his chest. She rested her chin on top of them and looked down at him. “You're saying you don't feel a thing right now?”

“Not like that,” he said almost apologetically. “When we lost our ability to reproduce our sex drive went with it.”

“You lost it. How?”

“A multi-­race phenomenon called Apex. Don't suppose you've heard of it?”

“No,” she said, a mixture of disappointment and confusion.

“Most of the younger races haven't,” he explained. “When a race ascends to a very high physical level they are said to reach their ‘peak,' at which time their healing abilities become so advanced by default that they don't decay, having virtually unlimited lifespans even if you go lazy. But at the same time the entire race's ability to reproduce deactivates, and it does so in a way that it can't be genetically reactivated. Even we couldn't fully identify the cause, but we know of more than 170 races that this has happened to, most of which are now extinct.”

“You said I have Human genetics. Why aren't we affected?”

“It doesn't seem to be time-­based, but a response to advancement. The Junta aren't as physically advanced as us, even with the genetics that we blended with yours. It shouldn't be something you have to worry about for thousands of years.”

Jalia chewed on her lip, thoughtfully. “So what
are
you feeling right now? I mean, do I disgust you? I'm not trying to be vain, but I've never met a non-­sexual race before.”

“You don't have to be sexual to recognize beauty,” Riax answered deftly. “And you are comfy,” he added, almost as an afterthought.

“Comfy!” she said in exasperated defeat, making a rude noise as she blew out a breath between her pursed lips. “I guess I can live with that. Not what I was hoping for, though.”

“I know.”

“You know?” she repeated, coming up for air a bit. “Oh, so you made our bet knowing that you wouldn't be able to follow through with it?”

Riax laughed. “You said ‘spend the night in your pod,' which is what I'm doing right now.”

“Technically I didn't say anything,” she argued. “If you were in my head you should have known what I was thinking.”

“I did know. You just wanted to get me in here with you and take it from there.”

Jalia dipped her forehead down and rested it on her arms in surrender. “I guess I did.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“I'm the one sorry for you,” she countered. “You really can't mate?”

“No we can't, but it's not really a loss for us. We stopped mating before we reached Apex anyway.”

“Why in the galaxy would you do that?”