strongholdrising (58 page)

* * *

"You knew I was in the temple," he said lazily, his hand stroking one breast, his head pillowed on the other as they lay there still entwined. "You came here to torment me."
She ruffled the hair between his ears. "Only a little."
"That was foolish, and dangerous. If it hadn't been me..."
"I knew it was you," she interrupted. "Was it worth the teasing?"
He lifted his head, pushing himself up on one arm and fastened his mouth over her breast, nipping her, making her shriek in mock pain.
"All right! All right! I won't do it again!" she said, squirming and trying to cover her breasts with her hands to protect herself.
"Only for me," he said, then froze. Groaning, he let his head fall down on his arm. "Hello, Lijou."
"
You
called me," said the priest, coming into the Shrine. "I switched the dampers on and set a guard on the temple doors for you, but it took me a couple of minutes. Only you would bring her here, Rhyaz." He stopped just inside the entrance.
"You might have taken the poor child somewhere comfortable, Rhyaz," said Kha'Qwa. "And you might have given her something to cover herself up with!"
As Rhyaz raised his head to look up at them, Alex began to laugh. A blanket, thrown by Lijou, came sailing through the air to land beside him, closely followed by a second.
"Take her up to your room, Rhyaz," said Lijou. "I really don't recommend a night on the grass." There was a rueful tone to his voice that suggested he'd tried and regretted it.
He reached for the blanket, trying vainly to open and spread it over them as Kha'Qwa came closer. With his new sensitivity, he could feel Lijou's amusement at his acute embarrassment. He thanked Vartra that the artificial day was over and it was almost dark.
Bastard,
he sent. Lijou laughed.
"You'll need these," Kha'Qwa said, crouching down to pass him a pair of wrist comms. "Ruth brought them over from the estate for you. They've got psi dampers set into them. Put them on now, they're already set to full. Your room isn't damped but we can get it done once this first Link day of yours is over."
He saw her mouth open in a slight smile as her eyes traveled the length of his exposed body. She reached out and ran a fingertip down his spine, stopping at the root of his tail, making him squirm, and Alex laugh even louder.
"Kha'Qwa," he said warningly. "Lijou, make her stop!"
"You know Kha'Qwa has a mind that's very much her own," said the priest.
"I'd forgotten just how trim a body you have," she purred, patting his rear before getting up. "Goodnight, Alex. Ruth knows where you are so don't worry about her. I'd say sleep well, but knowing Rhyaz, I don't expect he'll let you get any!"
"Stop laughing," Rhyaz said to her as he watched his friends leave. "You should be dying of embarrassment like any decent person."
"Like you?" Alex sniggered as he struggled some more with the blanket then gave up and collapsed against her with a sigh. "They're all right, you know. Not at all what I expected them to be."
"You've ruined my reputation. This is going to be all round Stronghold tomorrow."
"How? They're not going to tell anyone," she said, stroking his chest.
"We were broadcasting raw sex until Lijou put the dampers on. It's strong enough to affect anyone with any sensitivity, which is anyone who was awake."
"Never mind," she said, trying to reach down to kiss him.
"No," he said firmly, shifting her leg and easing himself off her before passing her the other blanket. "We're going up to my room. Lijou's right, this grass is too damned damp." He groaned again. "There's a guard on the door, dammit! We'll be seen leaving!"
Alex sat up, fumbling for her tunic, trying to stop laughing.
"Maybe they'll have gossiped it out by the day after tomorrow," he said, handing her a wrist comm before taking off his own and exchanging it for the new one. Getting to his feet, he wrapped the blanket round himself. "You might have brought us robes instead of blankets, Lijou!" he muttered, picking his damp and crumpled robe up from the grass.
Let them have their day of gossip,
sent Lijou privately, making him start with shock at the contact.
Upstairs with Alex, you'll be oblivious to it. It'll be old news by the time you join us again.
Bastard,
he sent again as he helped his Leska with her blanket.
I want her sworn in now, Lijou.
At this time of night? I
know
you've got better things to do!
He grinned, pleased to be getting his revenge so quickly.
The Creed won't wait. Brotherhood business first.
Prime world, training barracks, Zhal-Oeshi, 20th day (August)
Kezule looked up as the young officer entered and saluted. "At ease, M'kou," he said.
"All units have reported in, General. Units One and Two identified their targets at their workplaces and proceeded to follow them to their domiciles."
"And units Three to Eight?"
"All twenty targets were located either at the given domicile or at their workplace. Those units then familiarized themselves with the locations as ordered."
He nodded. "Tell them to stand down and prepare their reports. I want all problem areas identified so alternative measures can be explored. Have the reports on my desk by 08.00. Remind the group leaders we have a meeting at 09.00." He got to his feet, picking up his reader. "Who's Officer of the Watch?"
"Kho'ikk, sir."
"Tell him I'm going home now. He's not to bother me till 06.00."
"Yes, sir," said M'kou, saluting as Kezule passed him on his way out.

* * *

As D'haalmu steered the small grav flitter back to his apartment on the edge of the Palace, Kezule's thoughts were elsewhere. Despite his rage over his tank-grown offspring, he had to admit that events had turned out far better than he'd expected.
He'd first seen them eight days ago, after they'd been examined and processed by the medical department. It was with relief that he discovered they had all inherited a knowledge of their family relationship to each other, and to him.
His first task had been to explain the Prime situation, and the reason for their genesis. His next had been to lay down his basic rules. He was their Commanding Officer and they would follow his orders before any other consideration. Their primary objective was to protect the Emperor, God-King of the Primes, and his family, with their lives if necessary. Their secondary objective was to protect the people of the City of Light. He'd told them that during the next few days, he would choose leaders from among their number on the basis of merit and ability. Then he'd started training them.
The changes induced by the TeLaxaudin at his request had worked, and his offspring had all his memories and experience as well as the extra two years of maturity he'd asked for. Training was merely a matter of reminding them, not teaching them from scratch. And the aggressiveness of the fifteen M'zullians was more than contained by the presence of so many of their obvious superiors.
Each of his eighty sons was different, an individual in his own right, as were his twenty daughters. More importantly, he discovered their loyalty to him was total. After two days, he'd identified the twenty most able. Dividing the remainder into eight groups, he placed two of his chosen ones in command of each unit and set the remaining four to act in rotation as bodyguards to himself and Zayshul, who was now too near her time to leave their apartment.
He'd also forced the issue with Medical Director Zsoyshuu over meeting his twenty daughters. With them, too, there had been the instant recognition of family. Playing a hunch, he'd asked that they be allowed to live at the barracks and train with his sons.
"We want them for breeding, Kezule," the Medical Director had said. "Not fighting."
"You want them all for breeding eventually, Zsoyshuu. Unless you want my sons facing the same problems I faced when I woke in this time, they need to get used to company of the opposite gender. What better way than by living next to their sisters?"

* * *

Later that day, his daughters had arrived at the newly refurbished barracks and had been installed in quarters next to their brothers. Slowly, piece by piece, his plan was coming together.
Kezule roused himself as the flitter came to a stop. He'd taken to using the vehicle for several reasons, one of them being a means of getting his wife quickly to medical attention if necessary. As he was getting out, his communicator buzzed.
"Q'almo here, sir," said the young officer. "It's your wife, sir. She's...I think you should get here as soon as possible, sir," he said, a note of panic in his voice.
"Make your report, soldier!" he snapped, gesturing D'haalmu to follow him as he leaped out of the flitter and began running for the building entrance, communicator held to his ear. The two doormen flanking the entrance sprang to life, opening the heavy ornamental doors for him.
The youth's gulp was audible. "Your wife's in great pain, sir. Says it's the egg and you should get back now."
"I'm downstairs." He stuffed the communicator into his pocket, slowing down just enough to call to his bodyguard. "D'haalmu, fetch those TeLaxaudin doctors I told you about!"
"Already on their way up, General," interrupted the doorman. "May the God-Kings smile on your wife," he added.
"General?" asked D'haalmu as he caught up with him.
"Never mind," Kezule said, speeding up as he ran across the wide marble reception area to the elevators.

* * *

Chaos reigned in his apartment. A heated argument was in progress between the Prime doctor who had been attending Zayshul, his female assistant, and one of the TeLaxaudins. Q'almo stood beside the TeLaxaudin, the two of them blocking any entry into the bedroom beyond. The spectacle of the young officer and the small stick-thin alien with his staff holding off the two officials would have been ludicrous had he not been so concerned for Zayshul. Unaware of his arrival, they continued arguing loudly.
"Enough!" he roared, crest rising as he gave vent to his rage. "What the hell is going on here?"
The doctor turned on him. "We must have access to your wife immediately," he said. "This birth is a royal one and we must ensure there is no medical interference! I must attend her, not one of these TeLaxaudin! And my colleague, as the recorder of Royal births, must witness it! You jeopardize your child's rank in the succession if we're kept out!"
"You only need to see there's no interference, is that right?" he demanded, looking from one to the other.
"I must deliver..."
"Answer my question! Observing is the important thing, yes?"
"Yes," said the female, hastily stepping behind the doctor for protection.
Kezule grabbed hold of her arm. "You come with me," he said, hauling her with him past Q'almo and the TeLaxaudin. "Q'almo, D'haalmu, keep everyone else out." He opened the door and thrust her inside first.
The bedroom smelled of blood and fear and other scents he didn't want to identify. Zayshul was crouching on the floor at the far side of the bed. All he could see of her was her face and arms as she clutched the bedding. Her skin was chalk-white with pain, the rainbow markings looking obscenely bright against her pallor. At the foot of the bed, another TeLaxaudin sat folded up in a compact arrangement of limbs, watching her calmly.
"Get out!" she hissed, seeing him. "Get
out
of here!"
Letting the female recorder go, he backed off a few steps. "Are you all right? Can I do anything?"
"You've done enough! Just get out of here, right now!"
Kouansishus stirred, turning his oval face toward Kezule, eyes swirling as he adjusted his sight for longer range. "Leave. With me she safe."
"General, you must remove this alien," the recorder began.
His hand snaked out, grasping her round the neck, then he stopped, remembering who she was. Slowly, he released her.
She backed off, rubbing her throat, making a small whimpering noise of fear.
"Leave," repeated Kouansishus.
"I don't want to leave you alone with this recorder. She might try to interfere," he said.
"He's the one interfering," the recorder said, retreating to the far side of the bed.
Kezule hissed his anger, crest rising and darkening with rage. The female moved, skittering across beside Kouansishus.
"I do nothing," said Kouansishus as Zayshul gave a long drawn out shriek. "I watch."
Kezule fumbled for the doorknob behind him. "She's the important one," he said forcefully. "I don't give a damn about eggs or succession, see she's safe!"
"I hear."
The door opened, catapulting him back into the lounge.
"This interference by another species is not acceptable," began the doctor until he caught sight of Kezule's face.
"If she dies, so will you," he said quietly, pointing a finger at him as he advanced into the room. "Inch by inch, as I flay the hide from your living body to make a grave covering for her! Do you understand me? Your pointless rules are what placed her life at risk!"
He thrust the doctor aside and headed for the cabinet where they kept their strong liquor. Taking a bottle and a glass from it, he sat down in a chair facing the bedroom and poured himself a drink.
"D'haalmu, guard him. Q'almo, cover the outer door," he ordered, taking a small sip.

* * *

He'd drunk half the bottle before the door opened and the recorder came out.
"She's fine, and so is the egg," the female said, glancing nervously at the gun D'haalmu was holding on the doctor.
Kezule put his glass down, and, as sober as when he'd begun, got to his feet. "Hold onto her too, Q'almo," he said. "I want to see for myself."
Zayshul lay motionless in the bed but now there was a healthy green tint to her skin, rather than the deathly pallor he'd seen earlier. At the far side of the bed stood an incubator. In it sat an ovoid leathery egg not much bigger than the size of his clenched fist.
As Kouansishus unfolded himself, Kezule noticed the smell. The scents from earlier had gone, replaced by an odor he could almost taste. It was pleasant, reminding him vaguely of warm grass. He could smell none of the perfumes that had filled the TeLaxaudins' own quarters, only this.
"Is fine. Sleeps. Nothing I needed do."
"Nothing?" he asked, flicking his tongue out to taste the air.
The hands gestured, one reaching beneath the fronds of drapery to his belt. He took something from it, and advancing on Kezule in his strange gait, he handed it to him. "Scent for pain only." He reached out and touched Kezule on the nose with a twiglike finger. "Here. Work on thinking. You more reproduce later."
Cautiously he sniffed the container. It hadn't been used. So where had the scent come from? Unless it was one they produced naturally themselves.
"Thank you," he said, pocketing it and following the TeLaxaudin back to the lounge door. "Release the doctor and the recorder," he said tiredly to D'haalmu. "And escort our TeLaxaudin visitors to their transport." Then he returned to the bedroom.
He stopped to look at the egg in its heated nest. Already the leathery shell was beginning to harden, losing its flaccid appearance and filling out. Colors were beginning to emerge on its surface, wisps of green and blue. Now it resembled those he'd guarded on Shola, though it was definitely smaller. Strange to think this small object that was a potential person could also have caused Zayshul's death.
He moved away from it, going round to sit on the bed beside her. Touching her chest, he found her breathing was slow and even. She was deeply asleep, and just as well, he thought, hoping she didn't remember what she'd gone through. The suffering of prisoners and soldiers wasn't new to him, but the sounds she'd made while giving birth to their egg had shaken him. It had taught him she meant more to him than he could easily admit to himself.
A curious numbness seemed to possess his mind as he sat there, waiting for her to wake. One thought did surface; now that this was successfully over, he was closer to leaving K'oish'ik. Now he could plan the assault on the Directorate headquarters and the capture of the Sholan hybrids.
the
Couana,
Zhal-S'Asha 21st day (October)
"So three of the Valtegan outposts we've found are on a plane just above Jalna," said Banner, studying the holo-cube display thoughtfully. "With our fourth way down here by M'zull and J'kirtikk, it suggests there should be more in both vicinities."
"That's what I think," he agreed.
"Aren't we getting cozy," said Dzaou from the doorway.
He looked up sharply, banging his head against Banner's as he did. "Sorry," he muttered, rubbing his skull. "What is it, Dzaou? We're busy, unless it's important."
Dzaou came into his office, looking at the holo-cube. "You briefing Banner?"
"Yes," he said shortly, standing up. "What is it?"
"Watch change is over. Banner's supposed to relieve Khadui."
He switched off the imager. "We'll continue this later," he said to Banner.
Banner nodded and headed off for the bridge.
"Anything the rest of us should know?" Dzaou asked.
"Not yet," he said, checking his wrist comm as he sat down behind the desk. "And not that. If you're off duty, you could do worse than check over your kit."
"You haven't briefed us yet. We don't know what we'll need."
"Personal weapons should always be kept ready, as should your first aid pack. Standard procedure— for us. I don't suppose it was any different in your time."
"You keep making references to my time," said Dzaou, hair beginning to rise around his face. "Just what are you trying to say, Kusac?"
"Captain," he reminded him quietly, leaning back in his chair and locking eyes with him. "You trained under Ghezu, I assume. I trained when Rhyaz was Guild Master. Now, unlike you, I've work to do. Dismissed."
Dzaou's hair rose further but he bit back his anger and inclined his head in a jerky salute before leaving.
As the door hissed shut behind him, Kusac let out the breath he'd been holding. It was going to come to blows between him and Dzaou but now was not the time. He kept Challenging his authority and leadership, and would need to be dealt with publicly— just as Kaid had once done to him. Resolutely, he turned his thoughts away from those days. They were gone for the foreseeable future, maybe for good. Banner was right, he had to finish working his way through his past before they reached their rendezvous, otherwise he'd never have the confidence to do what he had to do.
He got up, toggling the privacy lock on the office door before bending down to unlatch the chair from its floor restraints. Pushing it aside, he lifted the square of deck plating to reveal the safe. Inside was the padded case he'd placed there during the first day. Snagging it at either end with his claws, he lifted it up and placed it on the desk, then proceeded to close the safe and restore the chair.
Within the padded compartments were three items. A small gas-powered pistol, a clip of projectile pellets, and an aerosol spray. All were undetectable with standard scanning procedures. He checked the clip, making sure each of the ten pellets had been fed in properly, then loaded it, slipping the pistol into an inside pocket of his jacket. Picking up the spray, he held it tightly in his hand. It and the pellets represented months of work by the science labs at Anchorage and deep under Stronghold. Developed from the resinous green la'quo stones found on Jalna, this was a chemical agent that affected not only the Valtegan nervous system, but specifically targeted their Warrior caste. If rumors were to be believed, it destroyed several key chemicals and the glands that produced them, permanently affecting their ability to increase their speed, endurance and deep healing. It didn't kill them, but it did even the odds when they awakened.
By now, Rhyaz would have discovered it was missing, but he'd wanted some insurance that he and his team would walk out alive from what was obviously a Valtegan trap. He thought of his daughter in Kezule's grasp, and what had happened to Dzaka and his sister Kitra. This would redress the balance, not just for them, but for what had happened to him on the Prime ship. He smiled, tossing the spray into the air and catching it single-handedly. This could be administered covertly onto food, or drink, or into the air. It could even be sprayed on skin, just as he'd been drugged that last night on the
Kz'adul.
The thought of that night made him frown briefly.
He put the spray into a pouch on his utility belt, snapping the flap closed. Picking up the box, he shut it and headed for the recycler. Tossing it in, he unlocked the door and made for the bridge. He wanted to check on current fuel levels and consumption. If necessary, they could drop out of jump to refuel at the nearest gas giant. He was leaving nothing to chance on this mission if he could help it.