Broken Vision (3 page)

Sharm set his bottle down. "She's also an attractive woman, Alerik, and you know Corenna
and Drakal. They should be made aware she's a hereditary candidate for your team, otherwise she'll
pose a challenge for them in another way as well."

He was counting on it. "No, I don't want them to have that information yet. My Soron slice
axe to your Taragon pike she'll squash them anyway." In a twisted sort of way, he was counting on
that too.

* * * *

Maegan rubbed her eyes. This wasn't working. Numbers, symbols and letters were all
running together. She was too tired. She had to take a break.

She closed off the vid screen and pushed herself to her feet, then had to hang on to the
table edge as a familiar attack of dizziness seized her. When the world was normal again, she
headed for the private room attached to her office. As she pulled off her dress tunic and reached for
a pale green exercise suit, she reflected on the double bookkeeping system that Janas Corporation
maintained. Its architect, Morgon Trion, her uncle, had set up a seemingly foolproof
arrangement.

She sincerely hoped it was. So far, she hadn't been able to find a flaw, but she still had
several more files to examine before she was satisfied. The deadline for turning the corporation's
private financial records over to the audit committee was four days away.

Curse Alerik Mariltar!

Curse him for being appointed governor of Grogon and for his high and mighty
rule-of-law-or-nothing policy.

The Coalition of the nine primary nations of the Crestar System had crafted an inflexible,
stifling legal structure. Governor Meelor had his own loose way of interpreting it. Governor
Mariltar wouldn't interpret it at all. He'd follow each directive with unshakeable tunnel vision.

Aargh! She was giving herself a headache.

She slipped her feet into padded exercise slippers and checked to make sure her hair was
secure in its tight knot. Then she headed out of her office and down the stairs that would take her
past Coryon's work station.

Coryon was on a vid conference, so she merely waved and pointed in the general direction
of the beach. Her assistant widened her eyes and pretended to faint across her console. There was
no reaction from the other participants on screen. Coryon must have placed herself on privacy
screen. She was learning.

Maegan chuckled and stepped into the express lift tube to the outside entrance of the
complex. She rarely used it, preferring instead to walk through the halls of the corporation to greet
the people her uncle had gathered from across the galaxy to build the next generation of data
communication technology. They were a young crew for the most part, many her own age and
younger. In this one tiny slice of the universe, they represented not only a triumph of cultural
integration, but of intellectual cooperation and knowledge sharing. For the first time in recent
history, the technical skills and technology infrastructure of the multiple worlds of the Crestar
System were being combined. Trials had already proven the prototypes developed thus far vastly
superior to anything in existence.

She stepped outside and turned up her face to the warmth of Pallas Four's second sun.
Tension immediately began to melt away. She didn't do this enough. Didn't have time to do this.
She did some cursory stretching, before she took off on a slow jog down a path cushioned with
grebiron shells and lined with thick vegetation.

She passed a calithorn shrub, whose leaves today were blood crimson spotted with gold.
The path was deserted, typical for the area. The tourists all congregated at the lower end of the city
where the entertainment clubs did a booming business.

The sea was audible now, a soft splash of thick liquid on a spongy shell shore. Pallas Four
was almost entirely covered with a gel sea. The only land was the floating island upon which the
city was built.

She hit the beach at a fast jog. It was hot today, hotter than she expected. Like the path, the
beach was deserted. Halfway to the point where she usually turned around, she realized that despite
her best intentions her thoughts had locked onto her biggest problem again.

Alerik Mariltar. What vindictive fate had brought him into her universe again? Two
rotations older than she, he had stormed in and out of her childhood and adolescence, too busy
becoming an anointed heir of the Mariltar Nation to pay much attention to the rebellious daughter
of his father's right hand man. Too busy to notice that when she hit puberty, she had a searingly
painful crush on him.

One day he had had the gall to chastise her publicly for some infraction long forgotten
under the lingering weight of the public humiliation. Her crush was instantly erased and, to her
father's dismay and her mother's acceptance, if not encouragement, her rebellious nature became
more closely focused on all that she perceived to be wrong with rigid Mariltar doctrine.

She had avoided him entirely at the academy, which wasn't hard, as they'd only shared one
rotation there before he had moved on from his stint as one of the most sought after instructors to
enter the next phase of his heir training. But the boy of her memory had become a man. And what a
man! A woman's fantasies come to life. Not that she cared. Arrogance and lust for power didn't do a
thing for her. Her crush had long since vanished.

Now, as Counselor of Pallas Four, she had to report to him. Even worse, it seemed he
might invoke his right to make her serve her hereditary term on his security team .

By all the gods of the Mariltar Nation, she would not! Her father had made a lifetime
commitment to Alerik's father. She wouldn't give even a nan to the son. There had to be plenty of
ways out of this.

She slowed to catch her breath. Anger had lent wings to her feet. Obviously rebellion
wasn't enough. Something much more drastic--something that wouldn't get her incarcerated--was in
order.

"Magnificent day, isn't it?" A half-naked man jogged by her. Black hair, tight ass, muscled
back, young.

"No better for a vigorous run, yes?" Another half-naked man jogged by on the other side.
Medium brown hair, tight ass, muscled back, young.

Blazing starpits! Where had they come from?

They turned simultaneously and began jogging backwards in front of her. Wonderful.
Showoffs! Their skin-tight exercise shorts left little to the imagination.

They flashed identical white smiles. "Maegan Shale?" the black-haired one inquired.

"You obviously know, so why ask?" She had no interest in playing ritual mating
preliminaries. Two nans left to her turnaround.

"Had to check," Brown-hair responded. "It's our job to be accurate."

Not a casual pick up then. In hand-to-hand combat, Maegan could hold her own and these
men clearly weren't hiding weapons anywhere. Still, signals were going off like crazy in her head.
The turnaround, a favorite spot, could wait for another day. She abruptly reversed course. "That's
nice." She waved her hand high in the air. "Goodbye."

They appeared one on either side of her almost instantly. Neither one was panting yet.

"Don't leave so soon," Brown-hair pleaded.

"We just want to get to know you," Black-hair chimed in.

Blazing starpits! "Sorry, boys." She tried not to gasp for air. She was so out of shape. "I
don't form relationships in the middle of exercising. It's not healthy. Be good and leave me
alone."

"As you wish, lady," Black-hair said, too obediently. They both dropped back.

Too easy. Warning signals were still firing in her head. What was going on here? They had
fallen back to a respectful distance. She could see them with her peripheral vision when she turned
her head slightly. They weren't talking. They just had their attention fixed on her as they loped
along effortlessly. There was no way she could outrun them. In top shape, maybe, but exercise had
gone the way of sleep lately.

Then it hit her. Sliek! She stopped and whirled to face them. "Alerik Mariltar sent you.
Why?"

They halted in front of her, their breathing barely elevated, two young, hard male bodies
about whom any woman should have at least a lustful thought or two. She didn't even get a twinge.
What was wrong with her?

Brown-hair flashed his dazzling smile, and raised his hand in traditional Mariltar greeting.
"Drakal, ma'am. Nathan Drakal." He gestured to his companion, who imitated the greeting. "He's
Corenna. Eduardo. Our orders are to provide you with protection."

It was ludicrous. Maegan fought a rush of too familiar hot anger. "Protection? Against
what?" She planted her fists on her hips. "Are you sure the directive didn't go more like this? 'Go
spy on Counselor Shale. I want to make sure she's as clean as a ganbird before she so much as sets
foot on my team.' Am I right?"

They didn't even blink. Smiles still firmly in place, they stared back at her.

"Actually, ma'am," Black-hair said, "we have concerns about the increased traffic on Pallas
Seven, some of which is making its way over here. The counselor on Pallas Seven has received
some nasty threats. The governor is just taking precautions."

News to her. And even if it were true, it was a leap to think that Pallas Seven's problems
would spill over to Pallas Four. Everyone knew the gambling on Pallas Seven was way out of
control. The legal dens were greatly outnumbered by unlicensed establishments. Grossly
exaggerated rumors abounded. She had heard recent talk of illegal blood matches. She had even
heard it suggested a death match between humans had taken place. Pallas Four was far removed
from all that.

"Please thank the governor for his concern and generous gesture, but inform him that Janas
Corporation provides me with all the security I need." Or would, if she allowed it.

"Yes, ma'am." No change of expression. No movement. They were the quintessential
Mariltar warriors: unyielding, steadfast, resolute in following orders.

The sun beat down on her, making her head swim with a sudden brief attack of dizziness.
The only way she was going to get rid of Alerik's spies was to go to the source. And wasn't that
going to be fun?

"All right. I'm going to finish my run now. And then I'm going to go back to Janas
Corporation and have a conversation with Governor Mariltar."

She waved at the rippling gel sea on one side and the thick jungle-like vegetation steps
away at the edge of the beach. Its primitive beauty hid deadly thorns, whip vines that could maim
and poisonous secretions. Paradise came with a price. No one in his right mind would conceal
himself in the dense growth without consequence. "As you can see, no threats lurking around here.
Feel free to disappear any time."

Neither one budged, of course.

She heaved an exaggerated sigh and shook her head, and then wished she hadn't, as a
curtain of blackness briefly descended. She had to get out of the sun. She started off at a slow jog,
trailed by two of the most highly trained warriors in the Crestar System.

Margaine Confluence/Fourth Rising
Pallas Five

The day was three-quarters gone and Grogon's most unique phenomenon, its small
moon-sun, was on its fourth rising, when the vid console at the workstation in the governor's office
buzzed with an alert of an incoming message.

"Do you want to respond to that?" Sharm said.

Alerik could see the caller's ID code. A twinge of anticipation shot through his belly
straight to his groin. "No." He turned back to the two men seated before him. "It's not important.
Continue."

Captain Rectar Stilling said, "Well, sir, we have the lower route into the Pallas Seven
docks covered. Just in three cycles we've seen a marked drop in traffic. The upper route is more
difficult but--"

The buzzer on the console went crazy and began to flash. Sharm raised his brows at Alerik.
He shrugged. The blasted technology should have recorded a message by now. "Do you need more
manpower?" he asked Stilling.

"Don't believe so, sir. The--"

Alerik's personal comm began to vibrate. Simultaneously, the room's amplifier system
began to buzz and flash. He sprang to his feet. "Balls of Sortor! How did she do that?"

Sharm and Stilling were also on their feet.

"Who?" demanded Sharm.

"Maegan Shale," Alerik said grimly. He strode to the vid console and punched the release
to shut down the comm system. Nothing happened.

"Maegan Shale? The Chief Executive of Janas Corporation? Radically advanced
communication interface technology?" Sharm sounded far too amused.

"What the sliek does that mean? And how by Sagar's Crystals do you know that?" Alerik
punched futilely at the release again. He didn't have a clue what Janas did. Communication
interface technology?

"Did some research."

"This is an invasion of privacy!" Alerik slammed his hand down on the console.

Sharm picked up his vid screen. "Looks like you have a bit of a crisis to deal with. I'll
finish debriefing Captain Stilling in my office." Behind Stilling's back on the way to the door, he
dared to waggle his brows at Alerik and flash three fingers at him.

In his office, with three different comm sources buzzing and flashing around him, Alerik
waited a full nan, allowing the anticipation to build. Then he switched the vid comm to receive,
eliminating all noise and flash instantly. "Counselor Shale."

"Governor Mariltar. I see you are available after all."

What the sliek was she wearing? Something pale green that looked like it had been painted
on her. Combined with the crown of her tightly knotted blonde hair, she looked...lickable. Great
Sagar! He was glad the console shielded him.

"You and I need to have a conversation, Maegan, about polite communication. I'm in the
middle of a meeting. What do you want?"

She broke eye contact and turned away slightly. The green suit lovingly embraced the
sweep of her back to the fan of her ass. She was too thin, but it was nothing a few good meals
couldn't fix. "Call off your spies, Governor."