Aurora Rising (8 page)

“No,” she denied aloud, pushing it away. Unfortunately, she couldn’t forget the wave of connection she’d felt when he’d touched her hand or the look in his eyes before he turned from her at the door.

***

Keyen lay back in his bed and thought of the woman on the other side of the wall. Aurora, Rori, she was such an enigma to him yet so familiar. She was so strong but untrained. Well, not totally untrained, just not sure what she could really do. She had calmed the curiosity in the room full of people. When he had suggested it, he hadn’t really thought she could do it. It was just a test, practice to build her power and control. But she’d done it so easily.

Rori had a right to be disconcerted. It had shocked him too, and he was used to the amazing things Guardians could do. Still, he’d never seen anything like that and from a novice. It was a little unnerving.

Though, for him, the most unsettling was not her empathic abilities or shielding, it was when he touched her. That was the real problem. It was like the dormant fire that burned within him burst to life.

He was used to an inner fire. Part of his talent lay in it. What he wasn’t used to was having it fueled by another person. He didn’t know quite what to think of it and didn’t want it to end. Now ignited, he doubted he could handle it being snuffed out. But, if it continued, he might have to talk to Areathea or one of the other med-techs or maybe even Hiymm. Though, there was nothing they could do about it because he was sure he and Rori should be kept together. He let the certainty of the thought settle into his mind.

***

Rori didn’t answer her door the next morning when he stopped on the way down to breakfast. Keyen didn’t see her in the dining room either. Thinking he’d told her the team would meet in the training room, he went there next, coming through a side door. Keyen heard the voices of his teammates across the room and waited, listening.

“It can’t be true.” Sansa’s voice carried her normal cool tone.

“I’m serious. I heard there’s a new Guardian. There was a ‘young’ woman with Keyen in the dining room last night, and she was wearing a Guardian uniform.” Cassie sounded like her bubbly self.

“What’d she look like?” The male voice rumbled.

“Tankin!”

“Well, a guy wants to know these things.”

Keyen could picture Tankin in his mind wiggling his eyebrows in exaggeration. The man was huge as a mountain but had a playful heart he used to put people at ease.

“You know Tankin has a point,” Cassie put in. “It could’ve been Keyen was just on a date. Men are known to do that, women, too. Just because our love lives are almost nil−”

“Speak for yourself.” Tankin and Bass, Cassie’s twin, echoed themselves and Keyen heard a hand slap.

“All I’m saying is maybe Keyen found someone to date, which I think is wonderful. He’s too solitary,” Cassie said defensively.

“He has us.” Sansa’s cool tone almost crackled.

Keyen decided it was time to interrupt the conversation and started forward.

“I think it would be great if Keyen found someone. Still, it doesn’t explain why she was wearing a Guardian uniform,” Cassie continued.

“Maybe they just mistook it for one,” Tankin pointed out.

“How was the break?” Keyen broke in.

“Hey, hi.” The greetings were stacked on each other as his friends turned to him.

“Keyen, what’s this we heard about a new Guardian?” Tankin spoke up.

He started to nod, figuring to get right to it. “We have a new team member.”

Even though they’d been discussing it, there was still a look of shock on all of their faces because none had really believed it true.

“Who? They say it’s a woman and there’s no woman on any of the teams that fit the description,” Cassie questioned.

“She’s new.”

“What do you mean new?” Sansa cut in. “There’s no one new near ready to move up.”

There were nods around the group.

“Rori’s new to the program. She’s a high level empath with shield abilities.” Keyen could see the question rising on all their faces, but it was Bass that got it out first.

“How can she be high level and new to the program?”

“She was misdiagnosed because her talent was late showing itself. But, she is very strong. She’ll just have to be trained up some.”

“What do you mean ‘trained up’? Are you saying she’s not trained?” Sansa’s voice iced even more.

“Rori, was a member of a rescue team. She just never had…,” he paused for the word, “an opportunity to work her talents to their full extent.”

“You said she can shield,” Tankin said in his easy way of accepting things. “That’ll be handy. We can use that.”

“Yeah, but he also said an empath,” Sansa returned.

“So?” Bass looked to her.

“Don’t you get it? We’ll be trapped with a human lie detector.”

Rori hurried down the hall. She was late. She wanted to be in the workout room already but right after she woke up, she discovered a message waiting for her on her IPI from Med Areathea wanting to check it out. It only took a minute for the medic to proclaim everything looked perfect with the integration. She then spent almost two hours with an Intel-tech going over all the options and training her to use it until she was confident and could operate it without much conscious thought.

“A human lie detector. Great help that will be.” The voice reached her as she stepped into the exercise room.

Rori froze. Pain arched through her.

“She’s not a lie detector.” Rori recognized Keyen’s voice as he defended her. “Rori can feel emotions and dampen them. Think how useful that will be when we have a dozen panicked people on our hands.”

“Right, then we’ll only have eleven panicked people to worry about,” the first voice returned.

“You’re saying she can handle more than one at a time?” Another female spoke up.

“Yes, she can,” Keyen assured.

“So when do we meet her?” This was another male voice with a low, deep tone.

Rori debated on turning and leaving but before she could, she felt a tingling of awareness across her senses. Though she had never had any previous signs of mental connection, she knew Keyen was picking up her presence.

“Rori, we’re over here,” he called out her name before she could flee.

Rori stiffened, setting her resolve. This was her team. They would be like a family. She needed to have complete trust in them, and they would need to have faith in her to work together. Pushing the hurt from the ‘human lie detector’ comment away, she moved forward. They needed to get to know each other and it was best to start now.

She didn’t like this feeling of not knowing where she stood on her team. Funny, she’d never questioned her spot on the rescue team before. Since she had started helping out early, by the time she was placed permanently, she already felt part of the team.

This was the first time she’d ever felt like a new person, an outsider. And what made it truly worse−she was still battling her new abilities. She could acknowledge that, not that it made it any easier. But this was her place now, so pasting a smile on her face and pulling a wave of confidence around herself, she stepped forward, moving around a few more obstacles until she came to the group.

Keyen stood across the team from her, sending off a push of assurance that was impossible to miss. Sitting on the floor, leaning against each other, looking like a pair of blonde bookends, sat one male and one female. Sitting on one of the blocks above them, interest radiated off a huge man with light caramel skin. On the floor opposite from them was an auburn haired woman, who without even hearing her voice, Rori knew was the one who’d made the lie detector comment. Skepticism and animosity drifted from her in waves.

Forcing her bravado, Rori gave a cheerful, “hello.” She caught a knowing glint in Keyen’s eyes as he straighten, taking the lead.

“Rori, let me introduce our team.” He stressed the ‘our’, reinforcing it to everyone including her. She was a member of the team now.

“Bass and Cassie Morus, twins if you didn’t guess, they can mind communicate with each other and are both strong telekinetics on their own, but when linked, they are phenomenal. Tankin Rees,” Keyen motioned to the large man, “is a sound wave manipulator. He also has a way with the animals and can detect changes in elements.”

“What can I say,” Tankin spoke up jovially. “I’m a sensitive guy.”

There was such spark in the giant’s eyes, Rori had to fight to keep from laughing, knowing full well that was what the man was going for. She picked up a pleased awareness from the man knowing he had gotten to her.

A chill through bit her body as she turned to the woman Keyen was introducing. “Sansa Faultneer, she is a water talent.”

That caught Rori’s attention. She’d heard of water talents, but they were so rare she’d never met one, and the thing was, if Sansa was a Guardian, she had to be extremely strong. Maybe the chill in the air was more than just the emotions she was picking up.

“We are missing one other team member. Ultin Thurin, he’s a pyro and energy talent.”

“Someone talking about me?” A wiry man who was only a couple inches shorter than Keyen, came through the side door. It was his looks that caught Rori. He was one of the handsomest men she had ever seen with wavy dark hair, sharp features and piercing dark eyes. Those eyes locked on her, picking up signs of interest.  “And who do we have here?”

Instinctively, Rori opened her senses to read the man. There was interest but it was all superficial. It wasn’t that he wasn’t sincere. He was, she knew, a consummate flirt.

“A new team member.”

Being open, Rori felt a change in Keyen. She turned her attention to him. His posture had stiffened slightly. When he saw her looking at him, he continued, “Everyone this is Aurora Straye, or Rori.”

“Hi.” Cassie smiled openly and greetings followed from her brother and Tankin. Sansa was the last to acknowledge her with a nod of her head, still studying her as if she was an insect.

“Aurora, beautiful name.” Ultin headed toward her but stopped with Tankin’s question.

“Straye?” Tankin’s eyebrow arched in thought. “Any relation to Jattin Straye?”

“He’s my grandfather,” Rori acknowledged.

“Wow,” Cassie said. “We all started under your grandfather. He used to come in and check on our studies all the time.”

“He loved the Guardians. It was his life,” Aurora acknowledged.

A scowl creased Sansa’s brow. “I don’t remember you ever coming here. How come?”

Rori fought to keep from shifting in unease. She knew there would be questions. “My parents didn’t like it here. They are both Ag-techs. The city is not for them.”

“Keyen said you were on a rescue team at an Ag-unit,” Sansa probed.

“Yes. I’m a tracker and rescue trained.”

“And an empath.” Sansa’s comment didn’t sound very complimentary.

“An empath?” Ultin questioned.

“Yeah,” Sansa answered before Rori could. “So don’t try your games on her. She can read right through you.”

“I don’t play games. I just like all women. Is it my fault I can’t pick one? Maybe the one I want doesn’t want me.” He scowled at Sansa and Rori knew there was some truth in his words. Ultin was interested in Sansa and the woman had absolutely no idea. Ultin turned his attention back to her as if he knew she was probing. “So you’re an empath?”

“I haven’t had much experience with it except using it as a tracker.” Rori felt it was fair they knew her experience. “I’m very new to shielding but I will work to develop it.”

Around the circle, heads nodded, accepting her answer. Rori felt more curiosity but Keyen halted any further questions.

“Okay, intros done. Let’s get to work. As Rori said, she needs to practice her shielding, and we need to get her integrated in moving with us. To start, let’s put Rori in the middle, Tankin, Cassie and Bass on the left of me, Rori on my direct right, then Ultin, and Sansa. Rori, this time just work on moving with us, so you know what we can do and follow our lead.”

Rori felt a flittering across her senses like a bug buzzing in her ear. Her first instinct was to ignore it, but when it came again she honed in.

“Well, I think I like her,” the words seemed to whisper in her mind, broken with static but discernible along with the impression of Cassie.

“I think Keyen likes her.” This time she got the feel of Bass.

There was a pause. “I didn’t mean like that. How do you know Keyen likes her?”

The next thought took Rori by surprise. “A man knows when another is staking his claim.”

Rori’s gaze darted to Keyen. He was talking to Tankin. Her heart beat hard at the possibility. When she looked back, she found Cassie studying her oddly. Unconsciously, Rori raised her hand to swipe away an annoying buzz.

“All right, positions,” Keyen announced. “The program starts in twenty seconds.”

The group moved into place on either side of Rori. Keyen looked at her and grinned. “Meet you on the other side.” A bell chimed and they all took off, moving through the obstacle course as air bursts shot out, the floor shifted and blocks rained down.

Rori was impressed at how well they worked together. She found it easy to fall into step with them. Following Keyen’s lead, she slipped over a large block just as hot air burst out from the side of her. It chilled before reaching her so it was a comfortable breeze.

Rori looked over to find Sansa looking at her with a totally blank expression. The woman turned away, but not before Rori saw a hint of a smile. Out of the corner of her eye, Rori caught the movement of a block shooting toward the woman. She didn’t think other than Sansa was going to be hit. Sansa spun but was too late to dodge. Instead of hitting her, the block bounced off Rori’s shield. This time when Sansa looked at her there was surprise on the woman’s face.

“Nice,” Keyen said before he dodged around the next wall.

Rori let the wave of knowledge at what she’d done sweep through her before she followed. They almost reached the center of the course when an alarm rang across her mind as well as the shrill sound echoing through the room.

“Come on,” Keyen yelled even though it was unnecessary. Rori understood the alarm meant there was an actual emergency. She turned and ran with the group into the lift.

“Are we taking her with us?” Ultin asked, turning his gaze on Rori.

“As I said, it’s on the job training,” Keyen answered and there wasn’t any more time for discussion as the door opened.

Rori had been in the hanger at the top of the building with Hiymm on the tour he’d given her, but it looked totally different with the hanger doors open, revealing the city that stretched out below. A half a dozen workers scurried around the bay, but the team seemed oblivious to them as they raced to the modified hoversled waiting in front of the opening. Rori could hear the whine of engines already powered up.

Keyen made a slashing movement with his hand, and Rori realized he was using the IPI and touched her wrist to activate her unit. Info scrolled in the air in front of her, and she almost tripped when she naturally ducked to avoid hitting them. The words followed the move, and after a second of disorientation, she became used to the effect.

“Tank, take the controls,” Keyen commanded, going up the ramp. As everyone passed the portal, they snagged a vest from a cubby, sliding it on before dropping into their seats. “There.” Keyen motioned to her taking down two vests, shoving one at her as the ramp raised sealing off the portal behind them. “It should already be fitted to you.”

Rori followed suit, pulling it on before taking her seat.

“An identical one is in your apartment and all our other transports. I planned to bring you up here to go over it later today.”

Rori tried to follow his words but was distracted as the hoversled shot out of the opening.

“Time to destination, three minutes,” Tankin announced.

Sansa, who had taken the front seat next to Tankin, picked up when he ended. “Energy port explosion, residential area. Outside power has been shut down, but we’ll still be facing residual backup power, fires and continued explosions. Weakened structure with possible people trapped. We need to contain as fast as possible. Extreme risk.” As Sansa spoke images flashed in front of Rori. She saw everything Sansa said, picking out panicked people scattered through the area.

“Med-techs and transport dispatched but won’t be able to get close until we can lock down the area,” Cassie informed them.

“Structure, class C, automated with three person overseers. Contact has been made with one man. The other two have not been located.” Ultin took up the report.

Keyen nodded and turned to Rori. “I want you to observe and learn. This will be an extreme high risk situation, nothing like I’d pick for your first run. Then again, this is not like any normal run. Stay back and be careful. Everyone be careful.” He raised his voice, stressing the words though all knew what they were facing.

Keyen turned his attention to his IPI. Rori watched as his hand darted in quick motions as he manipulated the angles and focused in. She followed suit for a moment before closing off the image of the power port to bring up a schematic listing all the contents of her vest and their locations.

Rapidly, she memorizing where stuff was. It was all logically placed and similar to her old rescue pack but extended to include extra items. One in particular was the energy pulse laser gun. Being from an outlying area, she was an excellent shot, carrying one when she went on jungle rescues, but it wasn’t what she thought of as normal equipment. She knew it was there for two-legged predators instead of the wild, multi-legged types she was normally concerned with.

Hearing Tankin announce their approach, she cleared the list and viewed out the port.

Class C energy ports were considered extremely safe but quite large complexes, holding several different fuel pods and massive pipes connecting to pumping stations. The high wall that surrounded it was more for looks than anything. Now a huge section of the wall had been blow out. Fire dotted the area, some shooting flames fifty meters in the air. Energy sparked and slashed up like lightening coming from the ground.