Dagger of drani world of.., p.5
Dagger of Drani (World of Drani, #2), page 5
“Yarnit should not bother thinking for themselves. They should simply do as they are told.”
Kellin’s statement left a bitter taste in Taymar’s mouth. More than once she had been given similar instructions. “They’re a strange people,” Taymar said, glancing around at other Yarnit tending to various tasks.
“They are weak.” Kellin said, spitting the words out like rancid food. “I see they finally removed the band. It must not have been an easy task.”
Taymar glanced at the offensive black swath encircling her arm. “Apparently not. It took ten days.”
Kellin looked at Jalkean and Taymar thought she saw a hint of the killer who had entered her cabin on the Regal break through his mask. “You will be at the a-tyr?” It was a question and a statement at the same time.
Jalkean nodded. “Yes. And you?”
Kellin nodded. “Come Taymar. I have made living arrangements for you that I hope will be suitable if that Yarnit did not make any other foolish alterations.”
Jalkean smiled, but it looked forced. “I will see you both in a few hours.”
Kellin dipped his head toward Jalkean then turned toward the exit. “This way.”
“What rank was that Yarnit?” Taymar asked, hurrying to catch up.
Kellin stopped and stared at her before answering. His expression was one of disgust. “Yarnit do not have rank,” he said finally, then strode off again.
Kellin led her to a transpad and told her the buttons to push for the housing area. When the blue light deposited them in that section of the Seed, Kellin led her to a deck-shuttle and again showed her how to find her own way. The shuttle let them off right in front of the door to Taymar’s room. There were no other doors around, just Taymar’s, and when she entered the lodgings, she knew why. It was huge.
The area in which they were standing was bigger than the entire room she and Nevvis had shared on the Regal. It had several reclining chairs arranged around the open space as well as a vid that took up an entire wall. Intricate patterns adorned the floor and, in places, continued up the walls around the edges of the many doorways leading to other rooms.
She turned to Kellin. “I don’t need a room this big, Kellin. It’s just me.” An ugly thought suddenly crossed her mind. “It is just me isn’t it?”
Kellin looked offended. “Of course! You are the only one staying here. It is most appropriate for someone like you to have housing like this. It is your station. To turn it down would dishonor the brae.”
“Oh. Well, okay. It just seems ... it’s sure better than the confinement cell on Captain Sean’s ship.”
“Clothing will be delivered by the Yarnit I spoke to earlier, at least it had better be. If you find anything they bring unsatisfactory, use the comm to contact me. I will take care of it.”
Taymar nodded and wondered what grave error the Yarnit had made to run so afoul of Kellin.
“A-tyr is on the nineteenth pass. Someone will pick you up and take you there.”
Taymar nodded again and turned to find the converter. Two hours was a long time, and she was famished now.
Chapter 3
Yitt smoothed the front of his dress uniform and clenched the intel rod in his fist. It was supposed to be a symbolic representation of his position of leadership—the keys to the Seed, containing any data a new leader would need to run the station. Yitt glanced down at the smooth glass-like surface protruding from the handle and thought again how it looked more like a dagger than a data storage rod. Ironically, it worked like one too. The dagger was the weapon of choice if you wanted to infiltrate an enemy encampment. It allowed you to get close to the leader under the guise of friendship and then kill him in complete silence. Yitt suspected the Root’s celebrated heir was here to do just that, metaphorically at least—maybe literally.
It didn’t help that Tisku was loved by the Shreet people. He was one of them, or as close to one of them as a Royal could get. Tisku had been abducted as a baby and presumed dead, but as fate would have it, the greed of his enemies was their undoing. Instead of being killed, he was sold and raised in the mines where he was, no doubt, intended to die. However, his strong blood with the genetically enhanced immunities that flow through all members of the royal family protected him. When he hit puberty and the speckling exclusive to those of the royal bloodline began showing on his scalp, he was rescued and returned to his rightful place. But Tisku was still a child then and had not been raised to lead his people. His training had been long and arduous, but the Shreet had embraced him as they had no other before, and they waited eagerly for him to take his place as their leader and save their dying world. If it came to a battle for the loyalty of his crew, Tisku would win before the battle even began.
Taking one more deep breath, Yitt stepped out onto the dock to receive TiskuDabrea, the true heir of the Ska Dabrae title and future ruler of the entire Shreet civilization. The question remained, why in two dead suns had he decided to risk coming through the flux himself? He could have sent anyone to remove Yitt if that was his intention. What could he possibly want that required him to handle things himself? However ready Yitt thought he was to hold his territory, the Seed, he knew he wasn’t ready enough. Not from Tisku at least. This was bad. Very bad.
The door to the Shreet shuttle slid upward, disappearing into the top of the egg-shaped craft. The black iridescent hull shimmered as it reflected light from the landing dock. The skin was designed to blend into its surroundings. In the event of a disaster, the engine could release the pod portion of the shuttle and fly off on its own luring pursuers away. The pod portion would then disappear, fading into the background of whatever it was near. However, on this dock, the skin couldn’t absorb enough light waves to blend, so it simply pulsed like a living thing. Light shielding was one of the many technologies that he had not yet been able to replicate on the Seed. One that the Root wasn’t willing to share. If Yitt could obtain the light shielding ability, he would be unbeatable, but the Root held their secrets close and Yitt, despite his position of leadership, wasn’t royal and therefore, he wasn’t considered trustworthy enough for such things.
A small army of security guards disembarked from the shimmering ship and staged themselves throughout the room. Once the guards were satisfied, TiskuDabrae stepped onto the ramp and paused.
YittBrae whistled the signal and every Shreet on the dock crossed both arms across their chest in salute and then thrust them to their sides, their loud “Katah” of respect filled the room as if coming from one throat. The Dabrae glanced around and then up at the two decks above the main dock. Shreet lined the railings at every level, standing at attention, their eyes trained on their leader, YittBrae. It was impressive and Yitt allowed himself a small smile before stepping between two of Tisku’s guards and presenting himself to the third highest ranking commander in their world.
“Katah!” Yitt said, crossing his own arms over his chest and thrusting them down by his sides.
TiskuDabrae mirrored the motion and stepped off the ramp to stand before Yitt. His orange skin mottled with pale yellow from his time in the Klav mines.
“TiskuDabrae,” Yitt said, holding the intel rod out to his leader. “On behalf of your people, welcome to the Seed. We are honored by your presence. I offer you command of this station in honor of your title and rank.”
The Dabrae took the rod and then made a production of handing it back to Yitt. “You honor me with your offer, but I decline and recognize your command as sanctioned under the direction of the Root.”
“The honor is mine.” Yitt crossed his arms again and gave a deep formal “Katah” before whistling the command to send his people back to their jobs.
As the Seed returned to some semblance of normality, TiskuDabrae stepped up next to Yitt and dropped a hand on his shoulder. “You have been busy, Yitt.” He looked around again, taking in the whole room as if he were cataloging every detail. And maybe he was. “Busy indeed.”
“We’ve been working to secure a path for the Root, Dabrae. I look forward to showing you what we have accomplished.”
“As am I. Show me this station of yours. If the rest is run as well as this dock, you will be promoted to diibrae before Chiskiti has time to complain about it.”
Yitt allowed himself a small laugh for Tisku’s sake, but he didn’t share in his jovial spirit. Ska Dabrae Chiskiti had opposed him from the moment he successfully crossed the flux. Most people had considered the assignment a suicide mission and Chiskiti was no exception. Volunteering as the first Shreet to navigate the flux had earned Yitt a promotion from roe to brae much sooner than he would have normally been considered for the honor, and Yitt knew Chiskiti had never forgiven him for surviving long enough to accept the advancement.
“Obviously, sir, you are in the ship’s main dock. We have the capacity to place your transporter on one of the external docks if you would like to save fuel by coming out of orbit, and we can house all five of your escort fighters in here as well. We have our own ships on constant patrol around the station, so you are perfectly safe.”
Tisku turned to one of the black-uniformed Shreet shadowing them. “Pull our people out of orbit,” he ordered. “No reason to burn fuel if we don’t have to.”
“Yes, sir,” the Shreet said as she dropped back and headed for the shuttle.
“I assume you will be staying with us for a while, then?” Yitt said, flagging down one of his own crew. “KiskaDii, will arrange to move your staff to your quarters. I have blocked off a large section to house all of you together. While they handle that, we can transtrem to central navigation.”
“Excellent. I don’t plan to stay more than one or two cycles, but I will accept the offer just the same.”
Yitt escorted the Dabrae through the dock, pointing out some of the finer ships they had taken from the Alliance as they went. As Yitt spoke, he couldn’t help noticing that Tisku’s attention wasn’t following the narrative. Instead, the man observed the crew with unnerving intensity. He was here for a reason and Yitt needed to figure out what that was in short order. More to the point, he needed to figure out how to get Rydon in a room with the commander.
As they progressed through the landing bay, Yitt continued to covertly scrutinize the dabrae hoping to figure out what he was looking for. Maybe he was recording everything for Chiskiti. That would make sense. And if he was, Yitt would know soon enough because the transtrem scan would register a recording device. Even if he was documenting everything he saw though, there was nothing Yitt could do about it. Except hope nobody on that recording had been reported ‘dead’ in the recent past.
“The transtrem is this way,” Yitt said, waiving Tisku toward the pad.
“Can we not take surface transport?” Tisku asked. “I’d like to see more of the Seed. Besides, I hate those things.”
Definitely recording. Yitt swiped open the door blocking the transtrem and stepped onto the large black rectangular pad. “This is the fastest way to get there. Navigation is at the heart of the Seed. Surface transport is available, but it would take a very long time.”
Yitt waited for Tisku to join him and then pretended not to notice his careful attention as Yitt entered the code for navigation on the grid panel. “I will make certain you have a list of access codes as well as a full over-ride to any restricted areas,” Yitt said trying to sound casual. “You are, of course, free to access any part of the Seed you choose.”
Tisku didn’t have time to answer before the swirling light yanked them into the darkness and deposited them in a small alcove cut into one wall of the Seed’s navigation center. The deck commander saw Yitt first and whistled the deck to attention. “Katah” rang through the room, and even after Yitt returned their salute the Shreet’s eyes continued to linger on TiskuDabrae as he made his way around the deck.
“There is going to be a lot of that isn’t there?” Tisku asked in a low voice.
“Your visit is something we will tell our children about someday. It is truly an honor, Dabrae. My only regret is that I didn’t know of your intended arrival. I would have made more formal arrangements worthy of your presence here.”
“Well, that would have ruined the surprise, now wouldn’t it?” Tisku began wandering the room, pausing at the occasional vid before continuing his slow meander. “Besides, we have reason to believe that our communications have been compromised. We couldn’t risk announcing my arrival ... So, this is the heart of the Seed?”
“It is,” Yitt said, looking around the massive chamber and trying to imagine what it looked like to someone seeing it for the first time. The room was filled from floor to ceiling with vids and holos. Some monitored environmental controls, others security and still others, the nervous system of the Seed. Yitt glanced over at a holo spread that monitored space traffic being projected above a table. The Seed floated in the center like a living thing, its oval body the core and the docking stations, launch tubes, and external building sites were its legs. Yitt pointed to a minuscule ship moving toward a particularly hairy looking leg. “Your transport is docking at this very moment,” Yitt said. “We can run diagnostics on it if you plan to stay long enough.”
“That won’t be necessary,” Tisku said, moving on to another station. “They checked every working part of that ship at least three times before I left the Root.”
What was the ship doing that the dabrae didn’t want monitored? Yitt used all the skills he possessed to keep his scalp from flashing white and even managed to produce a chuckle that he thought came off as quite genuine. “I imagine they did. Is there another area of the ship you would like to see?”
Tisku peered around the enormous room before answering. When he turned his gaze back to Yitt, he was wearing a diplomatic smile, but his body didn’t send out the same message. He was guarded, his stance aggressive—eager even.
“I think I’ll stay here for a while. It seems like everything I would like to see is coming out of this room. There is no need for you to accompany me. I’m sure your deck-commander is qualified to answer any of my questions.”
Yitt offered a salute which Tisku returned. “Yes, sir. If you need me for anything, please let me know. Otherwise, I will dispatch an escort for you and see you at the end of this cycle for a-tyr.”
“I look forward to it,” Tisku said and then turned and walked away.
Yitt tried for casual as he headed for the transtrem. He even paused to check a reading on a vid, but as soon as he was back in his office the reality hit home. For a few moments he could barely breathe. He got an immediate sinking feeling in his stomach and his legs felt wobbly.
The Root knew.
How much they knew, Yitt couldn’t be sure, but maybe they knew that Yitt had an alternate agenda from that of the Root, and Tisku was here to put an end to it.
Yitt dropped into his chair and drew in several long breaths. He hadn’t come this far by being timid, and you didn’t have to grow up in the mines to learn to be conniving. Being raised by his competitive, murdering uncle had been just as good.
If all Seed communications weren’t running through Tisku’s transport ship already, they would be very soon. Yitt needed to make plans and he couldn’t do it out in the open. He needed his secret eyes and ears. He needed Urvo. But maintaining Urvo’s anonymity was now paramount. Urvo’s official position on the Seed was that of a floater. It allowed Yitt to place him anywhere without raising suspicion and prevented any of the other crew members from getting to know him very well. Nobody paid attention when he showed up or when he disappeared. Hopefully, that preparation was now going to pay off.
Yitt swiped on his vid and flipped through the waiting messages. So as not to arouse suspicion if his actions were already being monitored, he responded to a few of them before pulling up a request for assistance regarding a Yarnit housing situation. There were supply issues and the request for additional resources ultimately ended with him. It was a minor concern, but one that wouldn’t raise any suspicions of he dropped in personally. The Yarnit were key to the daily upkeep of the Seed.
Yitt issued an order for three additional floaters to be dispatched to the Yarnit living area and then moved on to another message. His sub-commander would recognize the order for what it was and send Urvo to meet him. What they would do then, Yitt had no idea.
###
After an overindulgent soak in the steam bath followed by a solid meal of whatever came out of the converter, Taymar was fighting hard to resist the overwhelming desire for sleep that was trying to take over. It had lured her to the edge of the bed already and was mentioning how soft that bed was and how nice the pillows smelled. She had to admit that it was putting up a good argument when a chime at the door snapped her back to reality.
She tried to sort out how to look at the vid to see who was outside, but in the end, she just swiped it open. After all, what was she going to do if she didn’t like who it was? She couldn’t exactly lock the door.
Standing in the doorway were five Yarnit, each carrying an armload of clothing. The Yarnit were so short, barely reaching her waist, the bundles they held almost covered their hairless faces. Only their big dark round eyes and knobby skulls showed above the heaps. From her first encounter with the odd creatures, Taymar remembered Kellin telling her that they were neither male nor female, but he hadn’t said much else. Well, he’d also said they were weak, but he was also the size of a cargo freighter, so that wasn’t saying much. Not sure what else to do, Taymar waived the little people in and went to find her translator.
Each Yarnit offered her a low bow and then held out its pile for her to examine. By the time she got her translator in place, the Yarnit were starting to look anxious.
“If you are not pleased with these, we can bring more,” one told her.
“There are many to choose from,” another added.
“Yes, if you like, we can let you view the entire selection from your vid and you can choose from those,” said the one who had a long scar crossing over its right eye.
