Broken Vision (32 page)

"What do you mean, 'assigned'? Why do I need nursemaids again, especially here on Pallas
Five? Nargune's operation is defunct. There are no more child transports. I have no reason to
leave."

"Maegan, hear me out." Suddenly, Sharm was all seriousness. "They will be here in nans.
They will shadow you wherever you go, and will stay in the habitat with you. Wait!" He held up a
hand as she tried to interrupt.

"I'm leaving for Pallas Seven and taking a large contingent of Mariltar security with me.
Others will be posted at the med center to guard Alerik and Morgon. While you and Alerik were at
The Divide, we intercepted a human trafficking vessel. We believe now the counselor of Pallas
Seven is involved in these death fights up to his ears. Things are about to get bad, and until we have
everything under control, all other Pallas leadership is being assigned extra security as a
precaution."

"Nursemaids reporting for duty, sir."

Drakal dropped a gear bag by the entrance and strolled toward them. He cocked an
eyebrow at Maegan.

"Well, you are," she said crossly. To Sharm, she said, "Why do I need two? I'm sure they'd
far rather be on a real mission with you. Take one of them with you."

"The Mariltar security team all took a vote." Corenna followed closely behind Drakal. She
couldn't see any evidence of a battle wound on him.

"It was unanimous. You are the real mission. There's far more dang--uh, challenge keeping
up with you and keeping you out of trouble than in a take-down mission." He draped an arm over
Drakal's shoulder and grinned at her.

United against her and amused at her expense, the three men stood side-by-side, wearing
expectant expressions.

Maegan threw up her hands. She was tired to the bone. Suddenly, sleep sounded much
more attractive with two bodyguards in close proximity, even as annoying as the idea was.

"Successful mission," she said politely to Sharm as she passed him. "Have lots of fun
nursemaiding, boys," she called to the other two over her shoulder. "Just so you know and are on
appropriate full alert, I'm going to be unconscious for hours and hours."

"That's the most intelligent decision she's made in cycles."

Maegan paused on the threshold of the bedchamber she shared with Alerik. "I heard that,"
she yelled. "Just remember, Foster. You were the nice instructor at the academy. I wasn't the only
one who thought that!"

As the doors shut, she heard a hoot of derision, and Drakal say, "Nice? She thought you
were nice? Does Alerik know? Can't wait to tell..."

* * * *

"You don't think the schedule's too aggressive?"

Makiee shook his head and fiddled with something Maegan couldn't see on the vid screen.
He'd been distracted the entire time they'd been conducting a routine review of the ComXFive
technology release schedule.

"No, we'll be ready. It's solid. It's a beautiful piece of technology. Bortock really applied
his genius on this one."

"What's wrong then?"

"Wrong?" His head snapped up, but his gaze almost instantly shifted away. "Ah,
nothing."

"Makiee?"

His skin darkened at her inquiring tone. "Was, ah, wondering if I could, ah, take some rec
days following the release."

"Well, of course. You deserve it more than anyone. You've kept everyone on track. You--"
A beep from her console warned of an incoming message.

At the same time Makiee interrupted her. "Nimon is asking for the same rec time."

"Oh!" She had to take the incoming message. Its source was the med clinic. "I don't see
any reason why you can't both be gone--" The implications dawned on her. Makiee and Nimon had
squabbled like children from the time they'd joined Janas Corporation within days of each other.
While the squabbles had continued, there'd been a subtle shift in the nature of their disagreements
lately.

The console beeped again.

"It's all right, Makiee. You can both take the time you need." There would be opportunity
to tease later. "Are we finished? I have to take another call."

Makiee lost no time in signing off, the relief at having that conversation out of the way
visible on his young face. Maegan grinned as she switched to the incoming communication.

The message was the one for which she'd been waiting. Alerik and Morgon were being
roused from their comas.

Margaine Confluence:/Fourth Rising
Pallas Five

Alerik opened his dry, gritty eyes to the sight of a completely unfamiliar room. He badly
needed to piss. He rolled his head. Healing pod. A low hum coincided with immediate relief as
some machine took care of his problem.

"Welcome back." An unfamiliar medtech leaned over him and smiled. She began to busily
check various wires and tubes he hadn't noticed until then. "How do you feel?"

"All right. Where--" He cleared his throat. It was tight, his voice hoarse. "Where am
I?"

"Clinic on Pallas Five." She drew a thin med blanket over him. "You have a visitor who is
most anxious to see you."

The woman disappeared. Why by Cor's blood would he be on Pallas Five? He had a vague
awareness it was part of the Grogon Asteroid Belt on the edge of the Crestar System, but as far as
he knew the place had little significance. What had happened to put him in its vicinity, and more
importantly in its med clinic?

Cautiously, he moved his arms and legs. He seemed to have all his parts, and everything
seemed to be working. He tried to sit up, but the contraption tightened around his body and held
him in place. He forced himself to relax. Sharm Foster would fill him in when he arrived.

"I'm told they'll release you from the pod to a normal sleep platform soon. I know it's hard,
but you have to be patient."

The voice was soft and warm and female. Definitely not Sharm. The face that appeared
above him nudged something in his memory, but it was fleeting and gone in a nanonan. Blonde hair
bound tightly back from her face. Spectacular green eyes. Not strictly beautiful, but certainly
striking. Her smile faded a little and a tiny crease appeared between her eyes. There was only one
person he knew who had eyes that particular shade and he'd lost track of her long ago.

"Are you feeling all right?"

"I'm fine," he said impatiently. "Where's Commander Foster?" Sharm had to be somewhere
close by. He was the head of Alerik's core team and bound by oath to serve and protect him.

"He hasn't returned from Pallas Seven yet. Oh--you don't know about that."

"I don't know about a lot of things apparently," Alerik said grimly. The mystery of where
he was, why he was here, who this woman was, all made him feel as if he'd entered a different
dimension.

"What do you want to know?" The smile was gone. Confusion clouded her green
eyes.

"Why am I here, for one thing? Where's my core team? And who are you?"

* * * *

"I still don't understand, dear, why you didn't tell him you're his mate." Maegan's mother
took a sip of her favorite drink, a barilian nectar, and reclined in her chair in the great room of
Morgan's habitat. "He's going to know sooner rather than later. Better it come from you, don't you
think?"

Maegan sighed. She couldn't explain something she didn't understand herself, and about
which she was becoming increasingly nervous. Outside the plexiwall, the wilding winds were
tearing through the forest canopy, which meant her father would be stuck on Pallas Five, where he
had gone to visit Morgon, for possibly a full cycle.

"I don't know, mother. They both have these huge voids in their memories. Morgon's, I'm
told, are scattered but he does have some short-term recollection. Alerik doesn't seem to remember
anything about his assignment here, including our marriage partnership. He doesn't remember he's
the governor. He doesn't remember me at all. The first person he asked for was Commander Foster.
I just couldn't add to his confusion by telling him about us. The medtechs have every expectation
some, if not all, of his missing memory will return."

She still shuddered at her memory of Alerik's cold sapphire eyes. Their lack of interest
clearly showed he had no understanding of who she was or why she was there, and that he wanted
the people he knew and trusted to attend him. She had left the room and had sent Corenna and
Drakal in with a brief explanation and a reluctantly extracted promise not to disclose what she was
to him.

Maegan's mother shook her glorious head of hair. "Someone's going to tell him, and then
he's going to wonder why you didn't."

"This wasn't a marriage partnership of mutual agreement, mother. He consulted the Match
Key. I was hardly even conscious during our joining ceremony."

"But it is a Match Key partnership," her mother said gently. "The Match Key has never
been wrong. Alerik Mariltar would respect that under any circumstance."

"There's always a first time," Maegan responded bitterly. She hated the doubts that eroded
her confidence and questioned her memories of Alerik's feelings for her. Except when had he ever
said he loved her, and why was that suddenly so important? "Since when did you advocate for an
outdated Mariltar tradition?"

"This one I've grown to respect." Melissa Shale set down her goblet and stood. She went to
her daughter and slid an arm around her waist. Together they stared out at the gathering darkness
and tossing canopy.

"Your father won't be back until this has died down, will he? Do you not want this
marriage?"

Maegan squeezed her eyes closed. How often had she used those words in the form of a
statement with herself? The answer had once been so clear. "It's not a simple answer. At the
beginning, I couldn't fathom why he would choose me, why he would accept the Match Key
choice. We were so different in our beliefs and goals. But then..."

"You fell in love?"

Is that what this ugly ever-present pain was that stole her sleep and brought tears at
inconvenient moments?

"I don't know," she whispered. "It's so complicated. I don't know what I want
anymore."

Just cycles ago, she would have answered that question differently. But back then, Alerik
had held her in his arms and made her feel like they belonged together for always. Back then, the
Mariltar heir had stepped away from the customs and training of a lifetime, and had chosen to
disregard protocol, expectations and diplomacy to follow her in support of her rebel--some would
say treasonous--actions. She hadn't realized at the time how very much he had sacrificed.

The man with the cold sapphire eyes, who lay in the med clinic, would never have done
that.

"Far be it from me to add to your dilemma," her mother said softly, "but you should know
that Alerik is being recalled. It's partly why his parents were delayed and won't arrive for another
few cycles. They had to stop at the council seat at Magnilium. With this Taragon mess, the
Coalition Council wants Alerik to sit on a special committee. His father will deliver the news when
he arrives."

A particularly hard gust of wilding wind hit the plexiwall and made it bow.

"Then he goes alone. I will not leave Grogon or Janas." That decision, at least, was easy,
except for the horrible ache in her chest. She was almost certain it was one she would have made
anyway. She and Alerik would have argued about it, but would eventually have worked out a long
distance arrangement. He would have respected her desire to continue her work.

Except now Morgon was back to take the helm of the corporation again. Mistress Gloriana
was firmly entrenched as Pallas Four counselor. The network was no longer operational. What was
there for her to do?

Even if the fragile relationship she and Alerik had begun to develop survived intact, she
knew she couldn't tolerate the life of a political wife.

Beside her, Melissa sighed. "I'm very afraid, dear child, you will not have a choice. Again,
I urge you to go back to Pallas Five and tell Alerik yourself. Before his parents arrive." She reached
for Maegan's hand and stroked the tip of her finger over the bright blue bands. "Mariltar men are so
extraordinarily stubborn and proud. They--"

"Perhaps I should come back later?" a deep voice laced with amusement said.

"Jason!"

"Father!"

Her father, Corenna by his side, strolled across the room. Corenna had a grin on his face
that stretched from ear to ear. Distracted though she was, Maegan had a fair idea why. They hadn't
come from the habitat's main entrance. Morgon's secret tunnel system was becoming less
secret.

"We thought the winds would prevent a safe landing." Melissa hurried to meet her
mate.

"We arrived just ahead of them." Jason slid an arm around his wife's waist and dropped a
kiss on her lips. He lifted his head and smiled at Maegan. "We've been exploring Morgon's
underground habitat. Extraordinary. The weapons vault is incredible. Morgon always did have a
collector's eye. Corenna was like a youngster on those tube pads."

Corenna slapped his hands together. "Wish they moved just a little faster. Still, makes a
good ride. Where's Drakal? He'll want to see those weapons."

Melissa gestured to the wide hallway from which they'd just emerged. "He went to take a
nap in one of the bedchambers."

"A nap?" Corenna's lip curled. "Huh. Excuse me."

Jason waited until Corenna was out of sight, then he dropped another kiss on top of
Melissa's head. "Warriors don't nap, my sweet. You may owe Drakal an apology."

Melissa performed a dramatic eye roll and lifted her brows at her daughter. "See what I
mean?"

Maegan caught her father's eye and couldn't look away. Jason's stern amber gaze held
concern and questions, and made her want to squirm as it had always done when she was a child.
She knew what was coming.

Jason, as always, didn't waste any time getting to the core of what he wanted to know.
"How is it," he asked, "that Alerik Mariltar doesn't know he has a marriage partner?"