Between Darkness and Light (123 page)

“What?”

She looked up. “It didn't work. My marker is still there, and hers is not.”

“Let me get this straight. He's absorbed something from your genetic makeup into his, and it's still there, like a drug that he's addicted to. That's what made him ill on the way back from Ch'almuth.”

“Yes. It could have changed him in other ways, enabling him to go into a healing trance.”

“You're not a Warrior, Doctor,” he said cuttingly.

“No, but I carry the Warrior glands in me and can breed Warriors. It's a female thing, Kezule said.”

A sudden thought hit him, making his stomach clench in fear.

She smiled slightly. “No, you haven't been scent-marked, Lieutenant, nor could just pairing with one of us cause anything like that to happen to you.”

He stared at her, shocked even as relief washed through him that he couldn't have been scent-marked. “You're one of the Prime telepaths, aren't you?”

She nodded. “Your Captain was teaching me how to use my abilities so I could teach the other Prime females.”

It just got better and better, he thought angrily. “Show me his wound,” he said abruptly, getting up.

BACK in their lounge, Banner briefed them all on Kusac's condition.

“You said he's healing fast?” asked Khadui.

“His wound looks like it happened nearly a week ago, despite the fact it's only been two days,” he confirmed.

“He's got a lot to bloody well answer for,” said Dzaou. “Three weeks left and he has to go and pull a damned stupid stunt like that without telling anyone!”

“That's enough, Dzaou,” said Banner sharply. “I can understand that finding out Kezule had him drugged and sent that female to his room was the final straw. I'm not condoning the Captain's actions, but they are understandable. Had he spoken to us about it first, his plan might have worked.”

“But he didn't speak to anyone, did he?” Dzaou said angrily. “That's the reason we're in this mess, because he didn't tell any of us what was going on, including the fact he's a blasted telepath again! It makes me mad, the way he treated us all like a bunch of idiots!”

“I said
enough
!” A growl underscored Banner's words this time.

“Enough be damned! I haven't begun yet,” snarled Dzaou, hair beginning to rise. “You're no better than him! You lied when you told us he was keeping you in the picture! We could be stuck on this lump of rock for Vartra knows how long because of you two!”

Launching himself out of the chair, Banner went for Dzaou, sending the other two diving out of the way. Plucking him out of his seat, he pinned him by his throat to the wall behind.

“Are you questioning my authority, Dzaou?” he asked, his tone deceptively soft.

“What if I am?” Dzaou demanded belligerently, struggling to force him off. “You're as big a waste of space as he is! Neither of you is fit to run a jegget cull in a sealed barn!”

“That sounds very like a Challenge to me,” said Banner, hitting his grasping hands away. “If it is, you'd better be very sure you can take me down.”

“Lieutenant, if you wouldn't mind?” said Khadui from his elbow.

Surprised, Banner glanced at him then ducked quickly to one side as Khadui landed several hefty blows on Dzaou's side and ribs. As Dzaou doubled over, grunting, the older male gave him a final ringing thump to his ears.

Banner let him fall to the floor.

“You got anything more to say?” he demanded as the door burst open to admit M'zynal and Q'almo.

Dzaou lay there, gasping and rumbling deep in his throat. He stopped abruptly when Banner reached down to pick him up by the front of his jacket.

“Can we help, Lieutenant?” asked M'zynal, stopping just inside the door.

“Lock this trash back in his room. We don't want him in here,” he snarled, thrusting Dzaou in their direction.

When they'd left, Banner turned to face the other two. “Let's get this straight right now,” he said. “Kusac kept a hell of a lot back from us, and now we all know how much, but more importantly, why. A large part was because he was trying to protect us from the treason charges he faces if we found out about the cubs. He intended to come here alone, but we forced ourselves on him. At the end of the day, he's still the Captain, and while he's down, I'm acting for him. When he's fit, he takes over again. Either of you got a problem with that?”

“Not me,” said Jayza immediately.

“Nor me,” said Khadui. “What do we do about Dzaou?”

Banner relaxed and made his way back to his chair, picking it up and sitting down again. “I'm open to suggestions,” he said.

“Have him left in his quarters instead of joining us,” said Khadui, going back to the sofa. “If Kezule lets us go, lock him in a cabin till we get home and hand him over to Stronghold with a list of charges. Let them sort him out.”

Jayza nodded. “If we don't, he could get us all killed by doing something stupid. He hates telepaths, we all know that, so he's even more reason to hate the Captain now.”

“What about Shaidan? Did you tell them we want the cub with us?” asked Khadui.

“No. Here with us is no place for him right now, though I hate to admit it. He was in the sick bay with his father. No one's going to harm him, of that I'm sure. I should have guessed the cub was his—as soon as I saw them together, it was glaringly obvious, of course. He must have been using his Talent to hide that from us.”

“How long will it be before the Captain's fit to leave the sick bay?” asked Khadui.

Banner shrugged. “No idea. With a wound like that, normally I'd say a month maybe, and even then he'd be lame in that leg for a couple more months at least.”

“One good thing, though,” said Jayza.

Banner looked at him. “What's that?”

“We needn't worry about Kusac's attachment to Shaidan any more now we know he's the cub's father.”

“That's true,” nodded Khadui.

“After we got Khay's message ...”

“Khay?” asked Kezule.

Zhookoh smiled. “Khayikule's message, we stayed around for a few hours, picking up messages and transmissions so we could get a clearer picture of what had happened.” He signaled to his sister J'korrash to start the vid. “We picked up this one which was beamed out continuously from around 06:00 till we left two hours later.”

The screen brightened to show an obviously edited version of the new Emperor K'hedduk's marriage ceremony. Murmurs ran round the table as those present recognized the leader of the Directorate.

“The new High Inquisitor is called Lufsuh. He was M'zzik's right hand.”

“Obviously a falling out of villains,” murmured Kezule as they listened to K'hedduk proclaim his heritage.

J'korrash stopped the recording. “Observe at the foot of the royal throne, the skins and attached heads of two of the Sholan Ambassador's guards. We believe he may be holding the Ambassador and the other two guards as hostages.”

When she restarted it, the scene cut to the Royal Herald's announcement of K'hedduk's ascension to the Throne of Light, citing the new Emperor's lineage as well as his marriage as justification.

“How did they overpower Khayikule and your siblings?” Kezule asked as that portion droned on.

“Sleeping drafts in the wine for the banquet, and the weak ale served to the guards and the barracks,” said Zhookoh.

“The first custom that gets axed is the one of everyone, including the guards, drinking the Emperor's health,” said Kezule. “It was always a disaster waiting to happen.” He looked up at Zhookoh. “Where is the Enlightened One? Did he return home?”

“Thankfully, he's still on Shola, sir.”

Kezule nodded. “Then there's hope for K'oish'ik yet.” He saw the glance exchanged between M'kou and Zhookoh. “Remind us why we left K'oish'ik, M'kou,” he said.

“You didn't want to be involved in a coup to put you on the Throne, sir,” said his son with a slight smile to his brother.

The scene changed to show the central courtyard of the City, round which the heads of various officials and Courtiers were displayed, then it cut to show the main entrance where the late Emperor Cheu'ko'h's head was displayed.

“He culled them pretty well,” said Kezule.

“That's about it for the vid—as I said, it repeats itself for about two hours,” said Zhookoh.

Kezule turned his back on the screen to face them. Only three from the
Mazzu
were present, along with seven of his sons, the rest of the commandos were on duty and would be filled in later by those present.

“Have we detailed maps of the City and the Palace within it?” he asked.

J'korrash slid a buff-covered file toward him. “We have them on the
Mazzu,
sir. I brought a copy with me.”

“Good,” he said, pulling them over. “Educated guesses on how many loyal troops he has? I noticed he's got more of those thugs from outside the City.”

“There's the twenty M'zullians the Sholans returned,” said Zhookoh. “No idea how many altered workers he has. Then there's the original Palace guard—the fifty implanted Primes. They were serving on the Prime space fleet, what there is of it, and can be reprogrammed. Same with the hundred or so M'zullian ship laborers. Total, two hundred and seventy at least.”

“Ships are detailed in the folder, sir,” said J'korrash. “There's the
Kz'adul
and her sister ship the
Zh'adasho,
the frontier cruiser the
Shazzu,
plus three smaller cruisers, each with crews of thirty and capable of carrying forty troops. They were all called home, as we were, so they'll be berthed at the space platform.”

“Good work,” he said, patting the folder. “I'll study this over the next few days. You've been allocated quarters on this level because the one above is mainly civilians. It's now 12:30. Zhookoh, M'zynal will brief you and your crew on all aspects of Kij'ik in here in two hours.” He got to his feet, gesturing to M'kou. “Meanwhile, settle into your rooms, get showers, a meal, find your way around. Maps of the station have been put in each of your rooms. But until you've been briefed, please remain on this level.”

M'kou followed him across the corridor to his office. Kezule opened the folder and taking out the map of the City of Light, spread it across his desk. “Let's see what the possibilities are,” he said, leaning over it.

“You intend to retake the City.”

Kezule looked up at his son. “Yes. The last task of the Inquisitors before I disband them will be to flay K'hedduk alive,” he said grimly.

“Ah. You're going to rule after all,” said M'kou, sitting down.

He frowned. “No, that's for Prince Zsurtul—Emperor Zsurtul,” he corrected himself. “But getting him back his throne will have a cost attached to it I think he'll gladly pay. Disbanding the Inquisitors for one, and reforming the Court—he needs to get rid of some of those pointless rituals, like the toast I mentioned. I'm fairly sure that's when the drug was administered to the guards, probably with the help of the Inquisitors themselves.”

M'kou examined the fingertips of his injured arm. “Putting him back on his throne is going to be a little problematic when he's on Shola,” he murmured.

“I don't want to hear this,” said Kezule, a touch of ice creeping into his voice as he went back to studying the map.

“Shola knows we have Kusac and his crew here.”

“I'm well aware of that. Concentrate on the matter in hand, M'kou. What's more important is the knowledge that K'hedduk is a M'zullian and brother to their Emperor. It's my bet that M'zzik thought he was helping K'hedduk regain the throne for his brother and K'hedduk double-crossed him. Which begs the question, why does K'hedduk feel confident in taking the Prime throne for himself? Has he powerful allies among the M'zullian Court or military? He must have, because he certainly hasn't enough people on K'oish'ik to mount a war against M'zull.”