The Army Of Light (Kestrel Saga) (32 page)

    
When there was a marked silence after his words, Melissa deduced the Director
was waiting for some kind of response. She sucked in her breath slowly, trying
not to betray her nervousness at the situation. She had to choose her words
carefully, remembering not to use twelve of them when six would suffice. “Most
of the files were sealed, sir. I don’t know any more than I did when I left the
Core Worlds.”

    
He smirked, the first Melissa had ever heard of him doing so. Even through the
gloom, she could see the contours of his face crack and split in unusual
places, and she resisted the urge to cringe. “Remember who you’re speaking to,
Miss Graves. Deception is…
unbecoming
of you in this conversation. You
see, I am aware that you 
do
 know something.”

    
“Sir?”
 
Did he know? How could he know? Oh,
don’t be naïve, woman! Of course he knew. You don’t get to be the Director of
the OSI by having a lack of knowledge.

 
   “Aside from what Mister Kestrel may have already told you, I
also know that you spoke to Toyotomi Katashi.”

    
Damn. Is Toyo playing both sides? How else would the OSI already know about
their conversation? Perhaps Toyo’s information organization had been
compromised. If that’s true, he could be in more danger than even he realizes.
It’s all water under the bridge for now. In the meantime, remember your
training: evade and dissuade as long as possible; get as much information as
you can without looking like you’re trying to get as much information as you
can.
  “Mister Kestrel has told me nothing, save for some
anecdotal war stories about my father.”

    
“Then you don’t deny speaking to Toyotomi Katashi?”

    
“No sir.” 
So, something Toyo told Shawn and I had a ring of truth to
it? Whatever it was, it was something the Director was trying hard to keep
under wraps, that much was for certain. There was no way the Director would
have come this far from the Core Worlds for something so trivial as wild rumors
or unsubstantiated speculations. If Toyo was right, if there was more than a
modicum of truth to the Army of Light, than these truly are ‘dangerous times’.

    
The Director only made a slight humming sound as he acknowledged her reply.

    
She was still trying with all of her internal strength to keep her emotions in
check. “Shawn… Mister Kestrel… he doesn’t know anything, sir.” Melissa knew
full well that if Shawn did know anything, he’d be a threat to whatever secret
the Director was trying to keep out of the public networks. She also knew from
firsthand experience how the OSI dealt with internal intelligence threats.

    
“I simply hired him to ferry me to Corvan, sir.
Nothing
more.”

    
“Come now, Miss Graves,” he asked with an air of contempt as he shook his head
slowly. “You of all people know the futility of a statement like that to
someone such as
myself
. After all, how many times have
you
been in the reverse of this situation with others in the course of
your duties? And, in those instances, what would
you
have done about
it?” he shook his head indifferently. “No. I’m afraid, Miss Graves, that you’ll
have to do better than that.”

    
She attempted to keep her self-control as an image of Shawn floated across her
mind, the face of a man she—and everyone else in the universe—would likely
never see again after today. The Director, in no short terms, had made his
intentions about Shawn’s and Toyo’s fate clear. All she could do now was beg.
“Please, sir,” her voice cracked under the weight of the situation. “Let him
go.”

    
The Director leaned back in his chair, making his already obscure face even
more hidden by the shadows. “It’s too late for that. Your joint meeting with
Katashi has, regrettably, sealed all of their fates.” His tone was laced with
sorrow she knew full well he didn’t feel. “It’s very disappointing. Both Mister
Kestrel and Mister Katashi were people to be admired.”

    
She wondered what Shawn could have done to warrant such high regard from the
Director. “Captain Kestrel doesn’t know anything.”

    
The Director only shook his head and slowly repeated himself. “Such a pity, for
all parties concerned.”

    
So, she thought miserably. That’s it. First Shawn would conveniently disappear,
then Toyo. That would mean me, too… and Trent. Maybe even Jacques De Lorme.
Okay, so loosing De Lorme wouldn’t be so bad. Still, Jack was something of an
innocent in all of this. None of them deserved the judgment they would never
see coming, save for Melissa herself. She had brought this down on all of them,
and she wished with all her heart that she alone could bear the punishment.
Unfortunately, she knew that was not the way of the OSI.

    
“What are you going to do now, sir?” Her eyes began to fill with tears. She
chided herself for not being stronger, but she managed to keep the majority of
her emotions locked inside.

    
The Director gradually leaned forward, causing a single overhead spotlight to
shine down directly across the top of his head. No longer shrouded by the
darkness, first his nose, then his prominent cheekbones came into an
unobstructed view. He reached up and slowly removed the dark sunglasses,
gingerly placing them on the table top. When caught at just the right angle,
the Director’s eyes looked as if they’d been replaced by softly glowing
aquamarine orbs—like cat’s eyes caught in the light of oncoming traffic. Never
in her life had she seen such a thing on a human before. Other species, yes,
but never like this. It was as terrifying as it was fascinating, and it sent
chills up her spine as he coldly stared at her.

    
“The real question, Miss Graves, is what are
you
going to do?”

    
“Me, sir?” she asked back in utter confusion.

    
He smiled a malicious, toothy grin which did nothing to ease the trepidation
she was currently feeling. “Yes, Miss Graves.
You.”

*          
*           *

    
Shawn brought a hand to his chin and rubbed absently at the stubble as he
pondered
Krif’s
statement. “So, if you’re telling me
that it wasn’t your idea to get me up here,
then
whose
was it?”

    
Krif
shrugged. “I could give you any number of names
in the admiralty that wanted this to happen, some of whom you even know—all of
whom will remain anonymous for the time being. Hell, even the council had a say
in it. But, I’m thinking you want to know who it really boils down to. Am I
right?”

    
Shawn stiffly nodded once.

    
Krif’s
only response was to nod his head in the
direction of the briefing room door.

    
It took only a moment for Shawn to make the connection.
“The
OSI?”

    
Krif
turned to face the view port, and with his arms
folded tightly across his chest, nodded once. “To more precisely answer your
question, it was probably the Director himself, or someone else with an
enormous amount of clout in the Unified government.”
Krif
then shook his head wordlessly before he continued. “Now that you’re here, and
considering you’re not going anywhere anytime soon, does it really matter?”

    
“I think it does.”

    
“Well I don’t,”
Krif
snapped. “As for me, I
personally received the order—”

    
“From who?”

  
  “Damn it, Kestrel!”
Krif
yelled, spinning
sharply on his heel to face Shawn. “From Sector Command, who do you think?”

    
“Are you saying the Director doesn’t have you wrapped around his little
finger?”

    
“I work for Sector Command, hot-shot. My orders came directly from the
Commander, Second Fleet, Admiral William Blackwell. He tells me where to go and
I go.
No one else.”

    
The name Blackwell sounded familiar, and Shawn promised himself a moment to
research it later. He eyed
Krif
dubiously. “With
Sector Command silently bowing to the OSI in this matter, it would seem.”

    
“You need to check you facts, Kestrel, and quit listening to Toyo’s rumors.”

    
“You’re going to tell me the OSI Director came all the way out here just to
take Melissa into custody? Any rookie field agent could have done that. So
please, quick jerking my chain and give me the whole story. I can’t work with
half of the facts.”

    
Richard pursed his lips as he moved away from the view port. “You want to be in
the loop? 
Fine.”
He looked down to the metal file
folder he’d placed on the table top and slid it closer to Shawn. “I’ve been
told that it’s all in there.”

    
Shawn looked down to the inconspicuous metal container. It was about the size
of a small stack of paper, two inches thick with hinges along one side and a
thumbprint scanner on the right. It was nothing more than a standard secured
folder; save for a thick orange stripe around its midsection indicating that
its contents were classified as top secret—even going so far as to have the
words stenciled across
it’s
surface.

    
Shawn regarded the folder without touching it. “What is this?”

    
“An explanation, Kestrel, or so I’ve been told.
At
least, it’s as much of one as I’m authorized to give you at this point in time.
It’s been specially encoded to your fingerprint. Even I can’t open it.”

    
Shawn looked at him doubtfully. “So, you don’t know what’s in there?”

    
Krif
shook his head. “I have to say, though, that I’m
pretty curious. I’d sure like to know why I’m out here in the nether regions of
the Outer Rim staring at your ugly face when I have better things to do.”

    
“So that’s a no, I take it?”

    
Krif
expression was noncommittal. “I’m an instrument
of policy, Kestrel. Therefore, I know what I’m told to know.”

    
“Why can’t people just say what’s on their minds? Why the big cloak-and-dagger
bit? We’re all on the same side out here.”

    
“In case you’ve had your head in the ground for the last few years, let me
remind you: No, we’re not ‘all friends’, and that’s one of the reasons why I’m
out here in the first place. This isn’t a cruise liner, if you hadn’t noticed,
and the men and women on board the 
Rhea
 aren’t tourists trying
to get to the Elixir Springs on
Goshan
. I’ve got
enough firepower onboard this ship to devastate a planet three times over, and
I’m charged with using it to make sure everyone plays nice out here in the
boonies.” He moved to a food dispenser bin in the far wall and withdrew a
steaming cup of liquid. Taking a tentative sip, he put the mug down with a look
of disgust.

    
“Coffee?”
Shawn asked inquisitively.

    
“Tea,”
Krif
looked at the liquid scornfully. “I’ve
been told it’s better for my indigestion. Anyway, what makes you think I owe
you an explanation for anything? You think I’ll breach protocol, not to mention
direct orders from Admiral Blackwell, just because you and I served together
back in the war? That crap doesn’t fly with me, Kestrel. Never has. Never will.
I follow orders, plain and simple. I do what I’m told, when I’m told to do it.
That’s how I got to where I am right now, and I plan on staying here awhile. At
least, until they decide to pin a nice shiny star on my lapel and put me behind
a desk, that is.”

    
“I know I’ll sleep a lot more soundly when that happens.”

  
  “Is that all you’ve got left, Kestrel?
Your
quick jibes and your witty retorts? Tell me, is that why you turned into a
space hauler instead of making a real career for yourself in the service? You
had something, you know? I’m not saying it was exceptional, I’m not even saying
it was great. But you definitely had something that most pilots these days
lack: raw talent, maybe even a gift. But like a piece of garbage you threw it
all away, and now you’re perfectly content hiding out in your own little corner
of the galaxy, peddling freight to the has-beens and would-be pirate princes of
the universe.”

    
Shawn had no idea why he felt the need to justify himself to Richard
Krif
, so it shocked him to hear the words shoot angrily out
of his mouth. “I had enough death to fill three lifetimes,
Krif
.
I was done.”

    
“You were done?
You were done?
Is that all it was to you?
A vendetta?”

    
Shawn didn’t answer, but
Krif
could see the anger
welling up behind his eyes.

    
“So, you quenched your proverbial thirst and stepped back from the fountain?
You killed enough Kafaran’s to justify what they did to you and then you called
it quits?” Richard shook his head disapprovingly. “That’s really sad, man.”

    
“The war was over,” Shawn said with finality.

    
Krif
balled his fist and held it an inch from Shawn’s
face. “But the fighting went on! Just because the Kafaran’s headed out of our
space, it didn’t mean we all packed up and went home. There were still renegade
systems to retake, and pirates in every corner and crack of the Outer Sphere.
Borders had to be redrawn, and new treaties had to be negotiated—then there
were the battles over those same treaties; not to mention the fact that
commercial trade was smashed. Then, to top it all off, the core of the Unified
Collaboration splintered. The Outer Sphere dissolved completely, not to mention
what happened to our colonies way out on
he
frontier.
Do you have any idea the kind of chaos that Sector Command was in?”