strongholdrising (53 page)

she hung back, desperate for any view of the station and the people who lived on the planet below. Shola had been their goal, specifically the Telepath Program. This was as close as they would ever get.
"Get a move on," said the guard holding her by the arm.
She tried to pull away but his grip tightened and he began to drag her along the dockside toward the berth where their transport back to Earth waited.
"C'mon," she said. "Let me have a look at least."
The soldier glanced at her. "Kids like you don't deserve a look," he said, yanking her onward. "Ship leaves in ten minutes. You're going to be locked up in the brig in three."
Ten minutes! She looked frantically over her shoulder at her companion.
I heard,
he sent as he was hauled along behind her.
A group of five gray-clad Sholans stood ahead of them, isolated by the crowd in the middle of the busy concourse. They moved back, looking toward her and the guards and as they did, she saw two more wearing robes edged with purple.
Concentrating, she reached with her mind, desperate for a chance to plead their cause.

* * *

"You'll find Haven still full of construction teams, I'm afraid," said Rhyaz. "You particularly, Sister Jiosha. The Shrine won't be finished for several weeks yet, but I'm sure your presence as spiritual head will speed up the process."
Jiosha returned the Guild Master's smile. "I'm sure it will," she said. "So long as we can use the Shrine once a day, I'll be content for the next few weeks."
"Excuse me, Master Rhyaz," interrupted Lyand, "there's a group of Humans coming toward us. Soldiers."
The group parted, turning to look at the approaching soldiers and their prisoners.
"They're very young," observed Rhyaz. "I don't recognize them. Lyand?" he asked his new aide.
"Not from the Telepath Guild, and certainly not the En'Shalla estate."
L'Seuli stepped in front of Rhyaz. "I think they expect us to move, Master Rhyaz," he murmured as the approaching soldier indicated with his gun barrel that they should stand aside.
"Stop them," said Jiosha, a startled look on her face as she grabbed hold of the Brotherhood Guild Master. "The female, she's claiming sanctuary with us!"
"What?" L'Seuli glanced at her, seeing she was serious, then looked at Rhyaz for orders. There was a curious expression on his superior's face, one that made L'Seuli gesture to Lyand before stepping in front of the lead soldier.
"My apologies, Trooper," he said. "We need to talk with the officer in charge of this detail."
"Captain's on the
Seattle,
" he said, indicating a location behind the Sholan. "Have to hurry if you want him. Liftoff's in nine minutes. Now if you'll excuse me, we gotta get these young criminals on board."
"What have they done?" asked L'Seuli.
"Not my business, Brother," said the soldier, moving forward. "Now stand aside. I got a job to do."
"So have I," said L'Seuli, halting him by placing a hand on his chest. "They come with us. Your Captain meets us on our ship in fifteen minutes."
The soldier looked at L'Seuli in amazement, then laughing, turned to glance back at his companions. The laughter died. Half a dozen more gray-clad Sholans had materialized from nowhere and the two prisoners were now in their custody. He felt his weapon grasped and with a sigh, released it.
"On the
Chazoi
in fifteen minutes," said L'Seuli quietly, gesturing to the Brothers and Sisters before turning to Rhyaz.
"What the hell's going on?" demanded Rhyaz as they followed the two young Humans up the ramp into the
Chazoi.
"Why did you interfere?"
"They asked Jiosha for sanctuary," he said, leading the way to his office. "Take them to the mess, Lyand," he said over his shoulder, "and release them from those restraints."
As soon as the door closed behind them, Rhyaz walked over to the nearest chair. "I think you should tell me why you felt it necessary to interfere in the Humans' lawful business, L'Seuli," he said quietly, sitting down.
L'Seuli looked at the telepath. "Jiosha, you'd explain it better than me," he said.
"The younglings were on the
Odyssey,
Commander," she said, taking one of the other chairs. "It brought in the last of the Human telepaths from Earth earlier today."
"I remember hearing it was due about now. That doesn't explain why you felt it necessary to kidnap those younglings. You know this could escalate into an incident with us at the core? We don't need that kind of attention right now."
"They sent to me, Commander," said Jiosha. "They're telepaths. If they're returned to Earth, they'll be sent to one of several military establishments to be trained against their will."
Rhyaz raised an eye ridge. "They're a sovereign world, Jiosha. If they choose to recruit their telepaths into the military, we can't interfere."
"Not recruit," she said. "Force. These are unregistered ones, hiding from their authorities. They were trying to reach us."
"We can't interfere," he repeated.
"We must. They asked for sanctuary."
"I heard you the first time," he said, irritated. "Naturally we can't grant it."
"We have to," said Jiosha. "They appealed to me. As a priestess and a leader of the Order of Vartra, I have to honor their request. And there's possibly another reason," she said, glancing over at L'Seuli.
"More compelling than asking for sanctuary? I'm all ears," Rhyaz said with heavy irony.
I'm not telling him. We might be wrong,
she sent to L'Seuli.
He looked at the ceiling, closing his eyes briefly. If they were right, there was no way they could allow the female at least to leave this ship, and if they were wrong, this could be highly embarrassing for all concerned.
"If they're rounding up the telepaths and forcing them into training centers for military use, that's persecution," said L'Seuli. "And that is against Alliance laws, Commander. It's a matter for AlRel. Chagda is considered Alliance soil, so Alliance law takes precedence over Terran ones."
Very diplomatic!
sent Jiosha, her mental tone highly sarcastic. He wished for the thousandth time he had the ability to send telepathically as well as receive.
"Contact the Clan Lord, Lyand," sighed Rhyaz. "And my ship. Tell them to stand down, we'll not be leaving for several hours. I'm surprised we haven't heard from the Captain of the— was it the
Seattle
?"
"Yes, Commander," said Lyand.
"I don't think we'll hear from him, Commander," said Jiosha. "If they're engaged in illegal acts, they won't want to argue the matter of those two telepaths with us."
"Call Port Control and have them hold the
Seattle
and its crew for questioning," he ordered. "I'll be damned if they head out of here leaving this mess in our den!"

* * *

"Three tugs have been diverted to see the
Seattle
stays in its berth," said L'Seuli. "We got them just in time, they were continuing to undock. I also called the Palace and spoke to Master Konis. He's putting an impound order on the
Odyssey
and sending troops to escort the Captain of the
Seattle
down to Shola for an explanation of his actions."
Rhyaz got to his feet. "Well done, both of you. All that remains is for us to have these two young people escorted to the Port Protectorate office until AlRel arrives."
"I'm afraid it isn't so simple, Commander," said L'Seuli. "Master Konis wants us to remain here as well."
"And the younglings will have to go to Father Lijou at Stronghold," added Jiosha. "They've been granted sanctuary. They're our responsibility, not AlRel's."
"Lyand, tell Captain Fyshar to present my apologies to the Rryuk Matriarch but I've been detained on sudden and unavoidable Alliance business. He's to proceed to Home without me," sighed Rhyaz, getting up.
Lyand nodded and slipped out.
"Let's go and see these two young people," he said, heading for the door.
Jiosha threw L'Seuli a frantic look but all he could do was raise his shoulders helplessly, trying to convey the question what did she expect him to do about it?
She stood up, moving swiftly to reach the door before him. "Commander, it might be better not to see them," she said.
"Excuse me?" he asked, obviously baffled by her behavior.
"I don't know what your gift is, Commander, but did you experience anything strange when we stopped the Human soldiers?"
"I'm sorry, you've lost me, Jiosha," he said as L'Seuli joined her between him and the door.
"No, we lost
you.
For a full minute. We don't think you should go near the younglings until we've had advice from Father Lijou. You might be forming a Leska Link with the female."
Rhyaz' mouth dropped open in shock as he stared disbelievingly at her.
"That's why I couldn't let the Humans take them away," said L'Seuli. "We could be wrong, Commander," he added hastily, "but we couldn't take that chance."
"I appreciate your concern, L'Seuli," he said quietly, moving them aside and opening the door. "But I will see the younglings."

* * *

"Commander," said L'Seuli, catching up with him outside the mess. "If we're right and you go in there..."
Rhyaz stopped. "When the Brotherhood recruited me, L'Seuli, I accepted because I believed you can either take life by the throat and fight it, or run and cower in your den. Do me one favor if you will."
"Anything."
"Get everyone but the female out of there," he said, reaching for his gun and his knife and passing them to him. "And ask Jiosha to be on hand."
He stood back and waited as L'Seuli ordered the two Brothers and the young male out. Then he went in, closing the door behind him.
She was seated at the first table, holding a mug.
"Djana," he said, walking round to the head of the table and pulling out a chair. "Do you speak Sholan?" he asked, sitting down.
She looked quizzically at him and shook her head. "Sorry, I don't understand," she said in Terran.
He recognized the accent and language. "You come from England?" he asked in her language.
A smile lit her face. "Yes. Thank you for rescuing us. You did rescue us, didn't you?" As she frowned, her eyebrows met under the fringe of almost white-blonde hair that framed her oval face. "The one in the long black robes is a priest, isn't she?"
"Yes, sanctuary has been granted," he confirmed. "And yes, Sister Jiosha is a telepath priest. You sent to her."
She looked puzzled. "No, I didn't. I knew by your gray robe you were in charge."
Icy shock ran through him and his ears began to flatten until common sense took hold. "You thought you did. It's easy to make a mistake when you're an untrained telepath."
She shrugged, lifting up her mug and taking a drink. "I don't make those kind of mistakes," she said. "Ask her, this Sister Jiosha. She knows it was you I spoke to. She's outside the door, isn't she?"
"Why did you want to come to Shola?" he asked abruptly.
"Got nothing to keep us on good old Earth," she said, putting the mug down. "Where have they taken Kai?"
"To another room. I wanted to speak to you on your own."
"What happens now? When do we go down to Shola?"
"I'm asking the questions, Djana," he said, allowing a faint growl to creep into his voice.
"Alex. My name's Alex," she said. "I told you everything that's important."
"You told Jiosha," he said firmly. "Now you'll tell me. Do you know who we are?"
"Some religious group," she said. "You're telepaths. You've got purple on your robes."
He frowned, wishing she wouldn't keep insisting he was a telepath. "We're the Brotherhood of Vartra, an Order of Warrior Priests," he said. "Ours is the main religion of Shola."
"So I'm impressed. Now will you tell me what happens next? And who are you? I've told you my name. You could be polite enough to tell me yours."
"Commander Rhyaz. I'm the leader of the Warriors in the Brotherhood," he said, annoyed by her attitude.
She smiled, and he knew she was following his surface thoughts. He was being purposely baited for her amusement. He got to his feet. "You'll remain here for the time being, Alex. Seems the Captain of the
Seattle
was prepared to leave you here with us. However, granting you sanctuary has put us in an awkward position with Earth. You'll have to wait till the head of our Alien Relations arrives."
He made it as far as the door before she called out after him. "You going to feed us or what? It's been a long time since we last ate."
"You'll be fed," he said shortly as he opened the door.
Once outside, he leaned against the wall, breathing more easily. "Nothing," he said to Jiosha. "I felt nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Oh, she gave me some tale about it being me she sent to, not you, but she was trying to manipulate me," he said. "Get a cabin set up for them and put them in there. Show them how to use the dispenser to get some food. We'll wait here till Konis arrives. Any idea how long he'll be?"
"Several hours, L'Seuli said. Commander," she replied, reaching out to touch his arm. "It was you she sent to. I received it, too, but it was directed at you."
"Come on, Jiosha, you didn't fall for that, did you?" he asked, heading back down the corridor to L'Seuli's office. "I'm not a telepath! And I knew nothing about her, you had to tell me."
"What is your gift then, Commander?" she asked, almost running to keep pace with him.
"Empathy," he said shortly, stopping dead and turning on her. "And don't say a damned thing about Dzaka and Kitra and how he was only an empath!"

* * *

When L'Seuli returned after escorting Konis down to the cabin where the two younglings were being kept, he threw a handful of cutlery onto the low table beside the sofa on which Rhyaz was lying.
"You starting a collection?" Rhyaz asked, sitting up and eyeing the assorted knives and spoons.
"They had the access panel hanging off the wall," said L'Seuli, sitting down in an easy chair.
"What?"
"They had..."
"I heard you! What the hell were they doing?"
"Trying to escape again."
"And Jiosha wants us to take them to Stronghold!"
"We can tag them. It's been done before. I believe there was a time Kaid was tagged. In his early days," he added hastily, seeing Rhyaz' expression. "He left to fetch T'Chebbi from one of the packs in Ranz. They tagged him when he returned, but only for a couple of months."
"They should go to Vartra's Retreat. Let Dhaika have 'em," Rhyaz grumbled, sitting up and swinging his legs to the floor. He'd spent most of the last three hours fielding official complaints from the
Odyssey
and the
Seattle
as well as the Human Ambassador on Shola.
"The Telepath Guild would be most appropriate," said L'Seuli. "Not the nicest thing to do to Master Sorli, though."
"What do these younglings want here?" he asked. "Is it just to escape from their authorities?"
"That's a pretty powerful motivation on its own," said L'Seuli. "Jiosha says they haven't thought that far ahead. They're orphans, ran away from the orphanage about four years ago when it was discovered they had psi talents. They've been living on their wits ever since."
"Well, they've chosen the wrong place to come if they think it's any easier here. If Konis grants them Residence permits, then they're not our problem any longer. He can pack them off to the Telepath Guild. Did she find out if they're a couple?"
"Just friends. They know each other too well for anything else. You know, it was pretty enterprising of them getting as far as they did with that access plate," said L'Seuli. "They knew nothing about our power sources or devices. They might just be Brotherhood material."
Rhyaz gave him a vitriolic glare. "Don't talk up trouble," he said, picking up his mug of cold c'shar. "I should be on my way to Home now. How's it going to look to the Rryuk Matriarch when she hears I canceled her personal invitation at the last minute?"
"At least she's getting our people to teach her specialist fighters," said L'Seuli. "You can visit her another time."
Rhyaz muttered darkly until Lyand put a fresh mug of c'shar beside him and L'Seuli.
"Would you like third meal now, Commander?" he asked.
"We'll wait for Master Konis," said Rhyaz. "I wouldn't mind a small snack in the meantime, though. Something to take the edge off my hunger. Thank you, Lyand."
As the door closed behind his new aide, Rhyaz leaned back on the sofa. "I'm going to miss you," he said. "Lyand is good, you trained him well, but he's not you."
L'Seuli folded his ears back in embarrassment. "I'm glad I was able to help," he murmured.
"Don't work too hard out there on Haven. Remember to take time off. And find yourself a Companion, for Vartra's sake!"
Again, L'Seuli's ears disappeared. "I won't have time to get to know any females, Master Rhyaz. There's far too much to do."
"You know Jiosha. I've seen the way you look at her when you think she isn't aware of you. Father Lijou tells me you and she were in the same intake year."
"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about, Master Rhyaz," he said, his voice sounding distinctly strangled.
"Yes, you do. Do it now, L'Seuli, before you get too settled into a routine of nothing but work. Then you'll never do it. I've seen the difference Kha'Qwa's made to Lijou and have moments when I regret not following his advice. I'm too set in my ways now, though." He narrowed his eyes briefly. "And no, I'm not trying to convince myself!"
L'Seuli tried to cover his startlement by picking up his mug.