The Army Of Light (Kestrel Saga) (16 page)

    
There, standing at the top of the small stairway that led down into the
ballroom, was a true vision of beauty. Melissa had on—by what every being with
blood pumping through his veins would agree—was the most beautifully ornate
Japanese dining gown in the history of history. Its satin-like finish caught
the light in just the right places, giving her a soft glow as she slowly
descended the steps. The shimmering white dress was tied loosely around her
waist, and had a delicately flowing bottom that barely touched the tops of her
white heels. Her auburn hair was curled tightly above her head, and she wore a
diamond necklace that sparkled like a ring of stars around her neck.

    
“I’ll, ah… I’ll be right back, Toyo.” Shawn deftly reached behind him, trying
to place his empty glass on the bar without looking, not realizing he was about
to miss it by over a foot. Toyo, noticing the captain’s attention was focused
elsewhere, quickly reached for the glass and averted the minor disaster.

    
Locking eyes with Melissa, the captain quickly waded through several guests,
nearly impacting with two arguing
Quizonian
diplomats
before intercepting Melissa in the center of the room. Shawn saw what could
only be described as a look of approval on her face.

    
“You look…um, you look good.” he stammered, and then inwardly kicked himself
over his lack of vocabulary skills.

    
Melissa smiled grandly. “I feel a bit out of sorts, but thank you, Captain,”
she spoke up over the din of the other guests and the music that had just
started playing. “You look very… clean.”

    
The two stood within arm’s reach for what seemed like an eternity before Shawn
broke the stalemate. “Would you… I mean… would you care to…” He continued to
falter like an idiot, knowing full well that if he tried to stop he’d just put
his foot in his mouth in the process.

    
“Yes, Mister Kestrel?” she teased. “You’re leering like a school boy, so I hope
you have something more substantial to say.”

    
He took a breath before opening his mouth. “Well, it’s just that… beneath the
rough exterior it’s hard to believe there’s a beautiful woman in there.” 
Open
mouth, insert foot.
Tasty.
 

    
She smiled. “Your flattery is… kind.
Unusual, but kind.
And unnecessary.
This was in my room.” She waived her
hands at her dress. “I was told that I’d be attending a party and I should put
it on. It’s no big deal.”

    
His first thought was to say ‘H
ave you looked at yourself? You’re the
biggest deal in the room!
’, but he bit his cheek to stop from saying
anything. However, her appearance had stirred something he hadn’t
expected, and he approved of it. “I see.” He realized he hadn’t blinked once
since he’d laid eyes on her.

    
“Please, Captain. Stop staring at me like I grew a third eye. I’m still your
employer, you realize.”

    
Shawn managed to regain some of his lost composure and smiled confidently.
“That may be, but I’m sure your money entitles you to at least one free dance.”
He wasn’t sure if that was any better than anything else he’d said up to this
point, but once it was done it was done. 

    
“There’s no music playing.” But, as soon as she’d said it, classical music
began playing through concealed speakers. She pursed her lips and she absently
scanned the crowded floor. “Well, there doesn’t seem to be anyplace I can
escape to, so it looks as if you’ve cornered me.”

    
“The last time I checked, dancing requires me to be in some form of physical
contact with you,” he said as he held his arms out cautiously. “I’d appreciate
it if you refrained from striking me this time.”

    
She wrinkled her nose and laughed, far from how either of them had expected her
to respond. “I promise, no more striking out unjustly.”

    
He carefully stepped in closer to her as he looked down into her emerald eyes.
“Then I guess we’re all out of excuses.”

    
Shawn reached out and took Melissa’s right hand in his left, slipping his other
around her waist and applying gentle pressure to her lower back as they began
to waltz. The softness of her dress under his fingers felt electric. They
didn’t speak the entire dance; they simply looked at one another for the
duration of the performance, and for a few fleeting moments after the song had
ended. 

*          
*           *

    
Once the guests had finished celebrating and had departed for the evening,
Shawn, Melissa, and Toyotomi retired to the expansive backyard terrace adjacent
to a meticulously manicured Japanese garden. The three were seated around the
interior of a replicated twelfth century gazebo, and Toyo was just concluding
the tale of how he’d met Melissa’s father.

    
“—and just like that, it seemed, the war with the Kafaran’s was over.”

    
“Amazing,” Melissa said breathlessly. “It’s hard to see how one man could have
been so pivotal in such a large chain of events.”

    
“When your father came to me, he was merely a soldier in the right place at the
right time, and with the right information,” Toyo said as he looked down to a
nearly half empty glass. “The Unified government was very appreciative of my
efforts. It provided me with the means to have a very comfortable life here.”

    
“They may’ve provided you with the means, but you made this place what it is
Toyo.” Shawn said to his friend.

    
“It has taken a lot of hard work to get here, but your words honor me,
Captain. 
Domo
.”

    
“So,” Melissa said after a pause, “what do you need that shipment of weapons
for? You seem relatively unchallenged here on Persephone.”

    
“It is not the present that concerns me, Miss Graves. It is the future that
gives me pause.”

    
Shawn watched as Toyo’s face took on a look of severity. “I think it’s time we
had that conversation.”

    
“Conversation?”
Melissa repeated in confusion.

    
“First,” Shawn continued without responding to “I’d like to know how you knew
the Admiral was missing.”

    
Toyo contemplated his nearly empty glass before proceeding. “I will try to
answer as best I can.” He shifted his eyes from Shawn to Melissa before he
continued. “I’d overheard rumors that the Admiral was missing not long before
you arrived, Captain. Seeing you at my doorstep and with Miss Graves at your
side confirm those same reports.”

    
“Why didn’t you say something before today? There’s no reason you should have
kept this from me.”

    
“As I said, I only heard about it recently. I would have mentioned as much to
you when you delivered the weapons to me. In any case, it seems that the
foreboding that has concerned me for the last several months now appears to be
fully justified.”

    
“What does that mean?” Melissa asked guardedly.

    
Toyo’s face became like stone. “It means something ominous is on the horizon.”

    
Melissa leaned back in contemplation, but Shawn respectfully pressed his friend
for more. “Like what?”

    
“I can tell you only what I know… and what I’ve seen with my own eyes,” Toyo
set his glass down as if to emphasize the weight of his next words. “The
information I offer here will not leave this house,” he moved his eyes to
Shawn. “I know you understand, Captain.”

    
“I do.”

    
Toyo nodded sharply,
then
turned to Melissa. “I know
your father was working for your government on a special assignment,” Toyo
began.

    
“That much I already know.”

    
“But, you aren’t familiar with the nature of the assignment, or who exactly he
was working for, do you?”

    
She didn’t say anything; she just shook her head slowly.

    
Toyo turned to look out over the garden. “Of course you do not. If you did, you
wouldn’t be in my family’s house right now. In fact, I think you’d be as far
away from this sector as possible.
Both of you.”

    
Shawn shook his head as his frustrations mounted. “Toyo, I don’t enjoy
riddles.”

    
Toyo nodded. “All of the evidence I’ve gathered leads me to believe that
Admiral Graves was on an intelligence gathering mission, possibly for a covert
research project.”

    
Melissa watched in silence as Shawn leaned closer to Toyo. “What kind of
project?”

    
“He was sent to Second Earth to find information on something the Unified
government…
misplaced
.”

    
“Second Earth?”
Melissa asked startled. “But I got
this letter from—”

    
Shawn hastily interrupted her before she could continue. “Second Earth is a
tomb. It’s been dead since the end of the war. It’s restricted, quarantined.
It’s off limits to everyone, including the Unified government.”

    
Toyotomi regarded Shawn. “Come now, Captain. Do you really think that a
government is held in check by the rules it creates for itself?”

    
Neither Shawn nor Melissa answered as they waited for Toyotomi to continue.
“What if I told you a tale?
An account so fantastic that you
could hardly believe it?”

    
Shawn stood up and approached Toyo, folding his arms across his chest as he did
so. “Try me.”

    
“I thought you might, Captain,” Toyo said without smiling. “What if I said to
you that the Second Earth disaster was not the direct result of an orbital
Kafaran bombardment, but was—in fact—the result of a mishandled experiment by
our own government?”

    
“But,” Melissa countered. “Sector Command found Kafaran ships in orbit. It was
proven that they were the ones that destroyed the planet.”

    
“And the official reports were supposed to lead everyone to accept that,” Toyo
replied with a nod. “And, I have every reason to believe that the Kafaran’s
were
the catalyst. However, they were not the reason.”

    
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Shawn injected.

    
Toyo let out a disgusted snort. “Of course it does, if you understand what the
Unified government was doing on Second Earth in the first place.”

    
“Biochemical research, I think,” Shawn said. “They were developing some sort
of—”

    
Toyotomi held up a staying hand. He walked from the terrace into the library
and retrieved a nondescript red book. Opening it, he withdrew a small scrap of
paper and handed it to Shawn. “Does this look like biochemical research to
you?”

    
“What is it?” Melissa asked.

    
Shawn looked at it curiously. “It’s an equation of some kind, but I can’t make
most of it out.”

    
“May I see it please?” She asked.

    
In truth, it was almost entirely gibberish to him. He gave Melissa a curious
look, pondering if she would be any better at deciphering it than he’d been. He
found that it interested him that she might. Shawn shrugged casually and
offered it to her. “Be my guest.”

    
She stepped to the captain, nimbly retrieving the paper and turning to the
nearest torch, trying to get the maximum amount of light.

    
The two men regarded Melissa as she moved closer to a torch hanging from one of
the gazebo’s beams. Toyo lowered his voice and leaned closer to Shawn. “She has
her father’s fire,” he said, finding the irony in the statement.

    
“Yeah,” Shawn said as he finished his drink, his eyes never leaving her form.
In her silken white dress, the firelight danced across every visible curve of
her body. “And then some.”

    
“Just be careful not to get burned, Kestrel-san.”

    
Melissa stepped over and stopped just short of the two men. “Whatever this is,
it’s incomplete. I mean, it
could
be a weapon, or it could be the
formula for a new form of exterior latex paint.”

    
Toyo bowed his head slowly in acknowledgement. “I believe it is a weapon of
some kind, but I do not know for sure.”

    
“A weapon,” Shawn asked, impressed with her knowledge of advanced mathematics.
“What makes you think that?”

    
“This is an ionic equation,” Melissa said. “And I’m pretty sure it’s in my
father’s handwriting. If I understand this fully, whatever it is, it looks to
be
biospheric
in nature.”

    
Shawn’s eyes squinted in confusion. “But I thought
biospheric
weapons were outlawed?”

    
“Which is why I find it hard to believe that this scrap of paper represents
anything harmful,” Melissa replied defensively.

    
“I don’t think the Unified government was concerned with laws when they began
to develop this, Captain.” Toyo said grimly as he shook his head.

    
“Which was when?” Melissa asked. 

    
Toyo eyes shifted to the paper in Melissa’s hand. His gaze was one of both
menace and respect. “I believe we are looking at something that began life
before the war ended.”

    
“Either way,” Melissa added. “This formula is incomplete.”

    
“This paper came from a folder that was recovered from the remains of the
research base on Second Earth.” Toyo let those words sink in. With the current
quarantine on the planet, there were very few laws about removing artifacts
from Second Earth. That was because just being there in the first place—for
whatever reason—was punishable by death. No exceptions. Melissa looked at the
artifact with increased awe, and Toyotomi took it as a sign to continue. “Based
on what my sources have told me, the Admiral was assigned the task of going
back there to retrieve the rest of this formula.” He then shifted his eyes to
Melissa. “That doesn’t sound like something the UCS would do for a gallon of
latex paint, my dear.”