Confluence, p.22
Confluence, page 22
As Ryan squinted, the lines in the corners of his eyes felt deeper.
“You elected to clear the building in lieu of allowing me to raze it from orbit?”
“Yeah. Turns out Dhynek’s crew had taken to involuntary servants.”
“You knew.”
“I guessed. And before you say it, I get the risks involved. Let’s just say recent examples inspired me. In this engagement there was a narrow margin that allowed me to do something, so I did.” Ryan’s head snapped toward the sound of the portal chime.
“The Centauri princess is outside your door.”
Ryan whispered, “We’ve spoken about this; she doesn’t like that designation.”
Ryan opened the portal to Khattara’s distressed face. “What’s happened? Where’s Jheleen?”
“She’s fine.”
He cocked his head. “Were you guys able to catch up?”
“We reconnected, and it was everything I’d hoped for.”
Ryan motioned for her to enter. “But?”
Khattara remained in the hall and waved her hand. “There’s something else here.”
“Eschala, what’s goin’ on? What are you talkin’ about?”
“I’m thankful beyond words that you delivered her from that savage world, but you are not what you seem.”
“What? I don’t understand.”
“You brought her here for some advantage. For what I don’t exactly know, but you’re here for something.”
Ryan shook his head and held his palms open toward her. “I seek nothing from you in return. This is something—”
“Stop! Stop with the fabrications. There’s something else at work here.” Khattara held her palm out toward Ryan. “You returned Jheleen to me, and for that I have powerful feelings of gratitude. But equally powerful is a belief that we cannot continue our teaming together. We’re done.”
“Eschala, I don’t understand.”
She nodded quickly. “I’ve learned some things.”
Ryan cocked his head and squinted. “Things?”
“Things about you.”
“Alright.” Ryan sat up tall. “What is it that—”
“How ‘bout LUND?...You’re LUND! Some older-than-dirt Paavi guy has been running the line for a couple hundred years…a Paavi with your very name. I know the truth; that Paavi is you.”
Ryan looked down and swallowed.
“Go ahead, look me in the eye; tell me it isn’t true.”
Ryan continued looking down for a few seconds before mumbling, “It’s me.”
Khattara shook her head. “There’s no record of any Eylon Walach prior to the formation of the company…nothing. I did some more checking; Mahrno and Gehnchan Walach had many children, but no mention of an Eylon. So who are you really, and what’s your business here?”
“My adoptive parents found me near death and saved my life. I became part of the family, and over time I grew the family business into a shipping line. I didn’t want others here to see me as some older-than-dirt board president for a big cargo line. I wanted to come in here fresh, without baggage. Let me ask you this: What if you could conceal your lineage, and everyone you met going forward knew nothing about your past? Would you do it…would you…Miss Eschala?”
Khattara pursed her lips, cocked her head, and inhaled.
Before she could respond, Ryan added, “Hey, with or without knowledge of your past, I’d have thought no differently of you.”
She closed her eyes and murmured, “That’s precisely the point, Ryan Walach. I would have thought no differently of you had you told me your truth.”
“That’s fair, but I didn’t know you before I came to know you. At some point I should have told you. Somehow, it just didn’t seem that important.”
Her eyes widened, and she leaned toward him. “Where you come from is very important.”
The implication of Earth caused Ryan’s face to tighten, and he realized how dry his throat had become.
Her index finger pointed at him and bounced with emphasis as she continued. “You orchestrated the class visit up to the freighter and the meeting with Mehvis, and you said nothing. Why? Why, Ryan? It would have been so easy for you to tell me right then, but you didn’t. It’s because there’s more to it, isn’t there? A lie of omission is a lie nonetheless, and your profile is lousy with them. The way you’ve been with me this whole time’s been some kind of ruse or setup, hasn’t it? My entire life secrets and lies have hurt me. I’ve learned to protect myself by avoiding the carriers. I don’t know how you got…I need you to stay away from me.”
Ryan held his palms up facing her. “Eschala, I’d never hurt you.”
She shook her head and held her hand up as if she were trying to block his words. Khattara spun around down the hallway and disappeared into a stairwell. In the courtyard outside, she looked back over her shoulder as the light turned out in Ryan’s quarters. She took three more steps before coming to a halt. Her head tilted as she looked back over her shoulder. The lights were designed to turn off automatically if the occupant left the room. I wonder. She accessed the school’s central system and initiated a locate on Ryan’s identification badge.
◊ ◊ ◊
Moments earlier Ryan had returned from the hallway and stood in the center of his room. His jaw alternately tightened and relaxed as his head slowly shook. The words between them had triggered strong and unfamiliar feelings. A moment of Paavi prayer provided no relief, and spiraling anxiety triggered his flight from the scene in mid-chant.
Ryan swooped through the portal gate disguised as a mirror beside the bedroom doorway and emerged on Rex.
Just after he stepped through, Violet spoke. “Commander—”
“I don’t wanna talk about it.”
“Understood, however—”
“Seriously, Vi, I don’t want to talk about it.”
◊ ◊ ◊
Once again the central system located Ryan’s badge in orbit. Khattara typed as quickly as she could, but Violet blocked the signal before its location could be revealed. The Centauri trilled softly and clenched her teeth. She bolted back toward Ryan’s quarters.
◊ ◊ ◊
“You are carrying your school identification, and the princess just determined your general location. She attempted to precisely locate our position.”
“Gods!” Ryan sighed. It was the second time he’d made such an amateur mistake. He fished the badge from his pocket.
“I took the liberty of blocking the signal.”
Ryan turned back toward the gate to his apartment.
“I would not recommend returning to your quarters at this moment in time.”
Ryan looked up. “Oh?”
◊ ◊ ◊
Khattara had used her credentials to override the lock on Ryan’s front door. She had just passed the mirror with pistol in hand and surveyed the bedroom and closet. She returned to the center room and discovered Ryan’s identification lying in the middle of the floor. Her head cocked. I swear that wasn’t… She groaned and snatched the badge from the floor.
13
Time Out
“Ryan, this chatter isn’t from rogue elements; the communication sourced from the Daerk central fleet command on Cerberus. They’ve engaged in an operation; there’s going to be an ambush.”
Lysander
Bayhden raised his arm with an open hand. “Wait, I thought you guys were getting along famously. You’ve yet to be defeated, right?” The general gazed at her from behind the expansive dark wood flat top of his office desk.
Khattara stood in the center of the room. “Yes, we work well as a team, but…” she winced at her own words. “That’s not the point. Recently I’ve learned some things about him that raise some alarming questions. Did you know he’s the board president of a massive multi-system corporation? That he owns a Paavi cargo line?”
Bayhden looked flatly at his niece. “I wasn’t aware that was a crime.”
“It’s not a crime, but why didn’t he disclose it?”
“I dunno. Maybe he didn’t want people to know he was affluent. His kind are sensitive about that topic. Maybe he used his position and influence within the Paavi Trade Guild to orchestrate this appointment? Who knows? Have you asked him?”
“Sort of.”
“And?”
“His response was less than complete.” Khattara’s index finger pointed and bounced with her words. “He found Jheleen on Khuzu. He found a single grain amidst a desert, a desert that also happens to be a lawless, war-torn world with no central registry. Curious trick for a Paavi trader, I should think. Then he orchestrates her extraction along with a few hundred other refugees to Eitchu…hundreds. How does an average Paavi business guy orchestrate the logistics for that kind of mission?”
Bayhden nodded. “Yeah, I’d love to know details of that operation.” His eyes drifted off to an imaginary horizon. “No doubt he used his cargo line as a ruse and somehow infiltrated the planet. He must’ve leveraged his contacts to ascertain her location. That must have been—”
“Uncle, you’re not striking the proper tone here!”
“Khattara, I’m just not seeing the same red flags.”
“Tell me then, why’d he do it? What motivates a logical being to travel into a known den of death like Khuzu?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because he likes you and wanted to help. Maybe he did it because it was just the right thing to do.”
“No.” Khattara shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way. There’s more to it; there’s always more to it. And why am I having to explain this to you?”
Bayhden sighed and smiled tenderly at his niece. “Dear one, every kind act isn’t a front for conspiracy or subterfuge.”
Khattara’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, and there’s another thing.” She whisked a tablet in front of Bayhden that showed a map of the campus. An animation showed a line of travel documenting the movements of a single student badge. Khattara nodded and smiled with knowing satisfaction.
Bayhden shook his head. “I’m not sure what I’m looking at here. Is this a location track for the Paavi?”
Khattara nodded with emphasis. “Yeah. Notice anything odd?”
Bayhden watched the animation loop through a couple of days. He pinched his lips together and shook his head. “Nope.”
Khattara scoffed. “You see the lapse of time here where there’s zero movement?” She pointed to the tablet. “There and…there. Those are five-to-seven-hour lapses with no movement.”
“That looks like a residence hall. Maybe he simply put his badge on the table in his quarters and only took it with him to class.”
Khattara shook her head quickly. “There’s a pattern. It always stops moving in the same place. The travel is exactly the same every time. It’s a near perfect loop. He doesn’t go anywhere else, just to class and back.” She nodded hopefully at her uncle.
Bayhden watched the cycle again and wrenched a hand down his face.
Khattara added, “What’s he possibly doing between classes? And why’s it always the same? The more plausible answer is covert discipline.”
“Dearest, we all have patterns of behavior. Maybe he just takes his identification exclusively to class.”
“I thought so too, but there were two times recently when the badge flagged his location in orbit around Centauri. One time happened just a few seconds after I was with him. On both occasions the signal failed before I could determine a precise location.”
Bayhden stared at Khattara with a pained face. “Sounds like these orbital blips stand out from the pattern here.” He motioned toward the tablet. “Doesn’t it seem more likely the orbital telemetry was anomalous?”
“Perhaps, but the first time it happened, the badge went completely offline…for hours.”
“Still, could just be a glitch.”
Khattara shook her head. “I understand, but all the elements combined are odd.”
“Odd isn’t a crime.”
“Well, there’s also no record of his birth. Did you know that?”
Bayhden shrugged. “I thought his file said he was adopted, not entirely Paavi.”
“There are no records…none…as in the absence of data. There are always fragments of data. Uncle, it’s as though his record was sterilized.”
Bayhden wrenched his thick fingers under his reading glasses. “Khattara, the Paavi keep many of their records exclusively on print media in a central archive. Perhaps the data you seek is not available electronically.”
Khattara nodded and squinted. “Perhaps.”
Bayhden cocked his head. “I know that look. What are you planning?”
“With your approval I’d like to take a week. I’d like to go visit the Paavi home world.”
Bayhden chuckled. “Are you asking me as your uncle or the commandant of this academy? And would my answer matter either way?”
Khattara’s eyes reconnected with his, and she smiled at him. “Both, and of course it matters. Don’t you wanna know for sure that this guy isn’t here to effect a Paavi overthrow of the crown?” They both chuckled at the absurdity before she continued. “Seriously though, he’s not entirely Paavi. So what else is he? What if his agenda is not Paavi in origin? Shouldn’t we know what it is we’re dealing with? This would be a perfect ruse to learn our methods. What if he’s aligned with a malicious force?”
Bayhden nodded. “Alright, I’ll grant it. You can go off to Eitchu, but please don’t cause an interplanetary incident. I’m still in trouble for what you did on Kzuhu. By the way, how’s the girl you rescued…Jheleen, was it?”
Khattara nodded. “No longer a girl; she’s a grandmother now. I altered Jheleen’s relocation and that of her extended family to remain here on Centauri. It was difficult for them to separate from the rest of the refugees going to Eitchu, but in light of my present concern, I wanted to keep her close for now.”
“How’d you convince her?”
“She appreciates a certain demonstrated conviction I hold for her survival.”
Bayhden chuckled and nodded. “What you did for her as a child was a helluva brave thing; what you’re doing for her now is a good thing. Your actions prove that sometimes the universe does work that way. The one who raised your suspicion is the same one that recently secured her freedom…just as you did so many years ago.” He cocked his head and smiled tenderly at Khattara. “Remnants of the past often cast shadows into the present moment and can diminish the clarity of our vision. Go investigate your Paavi, but keep an open mind. What you’ve seen him do may also be a reflection of honor.”
Khattara grimaced and nodded.
◊ ◊ ◊
Mehvis was deep in thought composing a reply to a labor dispute when Sentiel’s voice crackled over the office comms.
“There’s a Centauri woman here in the lobby to see you. She doesn’t have an appointment but says she knows you.”
Mehvis cocked her head and glanced at the flower-patterned catchall sitting next to the desk. She could see the butt of the BAP peeking out between a pair of gloves. She clicked on a camera feed to the lobby and caught sight of Khattara looking up and around the room.
“Dvarah’s name! That’s not just any Centauri; she’s the Princess Khattara Menduvalli, third in the line of ascension to the Centauri throne. Tell her highness that I’m just finishing up, and I’ll be right out. I need to notify Eylon; she was not expected.”
Sentiel smiled up at the tall Centauri woman as she heard Mehvis’ words in her earpiece. “Alright. I’ll let her know.” Sentiel typed a message to Mehvis. Is this the woman you met on the freighter…the one with eyes for Ryan?
Mehvis read the text, smiled warmly, and responded verbally. “Yes, one and the same. Please show her to the conference room.”
Khattara noticed Sentiel’s eyes light up and make direct eye contact.
◊ ◊ ◊
“Princess Khattara, this is an unexpected treat.”
“Mehvis, thank you for seeing me without an appointment.”
“It’s good to see you again. This is a surprise. What brings you to Eitchu?”
“I had some business for the crown, and I thought I’d pay a visit to LUND’s headquarters.”
“I’m glad you stopped by. However, there’s not much to see here; most of the action happens up there.” Mehvis pointed toward space.
Khattara nodded for a moment and stared at Mehvis. She continued in a soft tone. “I know Ryan is your company president.”
Mehvis sat up in her seat and swallowed.
Khattara raised her hand. “I suspected more was going on here, and one look around your lobby confirmed it. Bulletproof glass, vectored lighting, and I suspect you’re carrying a weapon. You should know that others know where I am right now.”
Mehvis cocked her head and smiled. “No one here would ever harm you; quite the opposite.” She nodded and sat back in her chair. “I too suspected there was more going on when I made the decision to come meet you on that freighter.” She winked at Khattara. “With what I saw in mind, I’ll help you in whatever way I can.”
“I’m not sure what you’re referencing. I’m here as an extension of the Centauri Crown in search of answers. You should know that I’m aware of your past legal history, and Ryan’s fragmented story is questionable. As you no doubt know, he’s taken a position attending our war college. I’m here to learn who and what I’m dealing with.”
Before Mehvis could answer, Sentiel swept into the conference room. She glanced at Mehvis’ confused eyes as she plopped down to the floor on her haunches between them.
“Forgive me, but I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation. I know who you are, Princess Khattara, and I also know Ryan. When I was a child, our family business was running cargo.” Sentiel nodded and swallowed. “One day we were boarded by Daerk, and my family was held at gunpoint. They brought us into our central multipurpose room; it was a galley and a place where I used to chase around with my little brother.” Sentiel glanced up to Mehvis’ wide eyes. “They said awful things, and they shoved us around…and then…they shot my father and grabbed my baby brother…with a knife on his throat…they…” She swallowed, closed her eyes, and quickly shook her head. “They sold my mother to a gangster, and I was taken as a slave on the Daerk ship that boarded us.”
