Dance of Time (2 page)

“That is an odd mix.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Yes. All we can guess is that my grandmother was taken by a Moreski noble while he was visiting her owner. We don’t know who our mother was, but we did happen to have the same father.”

“Unusual for a slave to have a specific mate.”

“I know. I tried to do research on her after I was able to access the records, but she disappeared. There was no record of her mate. It could have been her owner for all I know.”

He nodded. “Right. It is likely.”

She wrinkled her nose. “No record of him either. It is like they just disappeared off the face of M’rora.”

“Perhaps they did.”

Zez pivoted in her chair. “What?”

“Perhaps they did disappear. Your talents didn’t appear out of the ether. There is almost always a genetic component.”

“Maybe fate intervened and took them both.”

Immune chuckled. “Perhaps.”

She sighed and flexed her fingers. “I can transfer temporary immunity to my talent.”

“So I have read. Do you think you will be able to help with the riots?”

“I will as long as I know where our side is.”

He chuckled. “I will make sure that you are fully briefed.”

She sat back and closed her eyes. She needed to rest up if she was going to be stopping rioters and letting the evacuation get underway.

The planet of Nufelit had voted, and all aliens had to leave; they just didn’t want them to take their spacecraft with them. It was making for a tense situation, and the attackers were guarding the spacecraft with ferocious intensity.

Zez wondered if any of them knew how to fly.

She looked at the maps that covered the distance from the embassy stronghold where the evacuees were hiding and the vessels that could take them to safety. It was going to take all of her energy to hold the Nufelit that long, but she could do it.

Eighteen hours of travel and two jumps later, they were preparing to land on the hostile world.

“Where are you putting us down?”

“On the embassy grounds. They are still protected.”

“I will keep my eyes closed.”

They moved across the skyline and skimmed across the city. She could feel the press of the angry minds around her. Some were furious, and others were just having fun joining what they perceived as the winning team. No matter what they thought they were going to achieve, it would ring hollow.

Zez came up with a plan to keep everything calm and get the aliens to their ships.

“All right. Here is how it is going to go. I am going to walk to the edge of the fence and freeze the crowd. We need to push through the standing protestors carefully but firmly and head for the shuttle pads. I will get them there, and we can leave in one rush.”

“Can you do it?”

“I can do it, but everyone has to wait for my signal until I time-lock the first few tiers of attackers.”

“I will be preparing to get you and the others to safety.”

She suddenly had a thought. “Can you get me the flight crews for all the shuttles and get them in here? We can do this in two phases. I can get the crews there to prep their vehicles and be ready for takeoff. That is the simplest thing. The rest is just a run through the city.”

“We can do that. I am sending the message.” He slipped on a com set and spoke in a low, liquid language.

They set down, and the crews of the blocked-in ships came on board.

Zez used the side hatch, got safety straps and hooked herself into the shuttle, waiting for the signal. In her headset, she heard Immune’s voice. “We are over the spaceport.”

She opened the hatch and locked the door open. A few deep breaths and she leaned out, freezing the entire expanse in time.

“Bring us down. Stay close to me.” She kept the door open as they settled on top of one of the larger ships.

She pushed herself upright in the doorway when they stopped moving, and she looked to the crews behind her. “Come with me. If you stray too far from me, I will lose you.”

The crews nodded, and when she stepped out onto the wing, they followed.

Every crew was checked into their ships and running preflight checks. She gave them five minutes to get them started, and then, she froze them in time as well. A few had looked like they were going to leave their people behind. She wasn’t taking chances.

“Okay, back to the embassy.”

She held onto the grips on either side of the door and focused on keeping the spaceport silent and still.

In her headset, she heard him ask, “Have you frozen the crews?”

“I have. They won’t know time has passed as long as we can get the evacuees here in the next hour or so.” She could hold it longer than that now, but he didn’t need to know that.

“Then, I had better get us back to the embassy.” The ship lifted and took off, moving across the city again.

She watched the embassy approach and looked at the direct lines to the spaceport. The gardens were the best bet.

“Do we have any ordnance?”

“What kind?”

“I need to blow a hole in the walls of the embassy gardens. Fastest way to the spaceport is through the garden walls.”

“And it will minimize the exposure to the population.”

“Correct.”

“Right. I will make the hole.”

Zez nodded and watched the aliens crowd the embassy as they dropped into position.

“I need that hole, Immune.”

A whirring sound reached her ears, and a blast sounded. The folk near the embassy recoiled, but someone inside was in communication with Immune, and they started to move toward the ship.

“They need to surround me, and we will walk out together.”

“Understood. Embassy security will do a live briefing. They are ready when you are.”

She unhitched her links to the ship and jumped to the ground. She ran toward the evacuees and arranged them to her satisfaction. “If anyone falls, pick them up. We can’t go back, so we all have to go forward. Stay together, move as quickly as you can, and we will get you out safely.”

The crowd murmured her instructions, and she lifted her hand in the air, moving forward.

The attackers were only just arriving at the hole in the gates, so it was easy to lock them. The group picked up speed.

It was exhausting keeping the spaceport locked down while walking three kilometres with weapons pointed at them, their owners locked in a temporal seizure.

Zez kept them moving until her feet touched the tarmac. The evacuees separated and headed for their ships. It was a relief to release the crews as the first of those who were being rescued made it onto their ships.

Ten minutes later, Zez cleared the tarmac and watched the ships taking off. She held the insurgent army back and cleared her throat. “Well, Immune, if you wanted to come and get me, that would be great.”

“I am in the air. See you in two minutes.”

She looked around at the men and women aiming guns at the sky, locked up and frozen at her whim. “Oh, yeah, that can’t possibly go wrong.”

While she waited for the shuttle, she carefully disarmed the fighters near her. She laid their weapons on the ground, carefully aiming them toward the distant hills.

All pulled triggers were going to remain so the moment she released her confined targets.

When the shuttle reached her, a ladder descended, and she didn’t hesitate. In seconds, she was hanging from the metal rungs and the ship was lifting off.

Climbing quickly was part of her training. She held the folk on the ground as long as she could until she was flopping into the ship. The weapons fire kicked in as she squirmed to safety and hit the door closure.

Lying on her back, she fought for breath as the hours of tension rippled and relaxed. She kept breathing slowly and let her body normalize.

The shift from gravity to the artificial system was obvious to her. The pitch of the engines changed, and she could sense the smooth engagement of the navigation computer.

She got up on her hands and knees, working her way toward upright.

Immune came into the hold with a ration bar and a bag of water. “Here you go.”

She nodded and took the sustenance. “Thanks.”

“You are impressive.” He had an amused look on his features. His eyes were a shade of purple so deep they were nearly black.

“That is the idea. If I were crappy at this, I wouldn’t be here.” She tore into the ration bar and drank some water. “Are all the evacuees accounted for?”

“Each and every one. They picked up the stragglers and stayed in the group.”

“Good. I wasn’t sure we got them all, but everyone seemed pretty calm when we got to the ships.” She munched and paused for a yawn.

“You are tired?”

“Little bit. If you don’t mind, I will rest a little on the journey back to Citadel Necridid.”

“Rest by all means, but we are not returning to Necridid.”

She stared at him. “What?”

“There are more events needing your particular talents. You have been assigned to the Sector Guard for the foreseeable future. This was your test.”

“I have to be home in the next few months.”

He shrugged. “It may be possible. It may not be. Time will tell.”

She really wanted to punch him, but she was too tired. With her body feeling as if it was filling with lead, she dragged herself to the bunk in the first room she found.

She was too exhausted to put up much of a fight. That could wait until she was rested.

“I am not a slave.” She announced it when he came into the galley where she was eating breakfast.

“I never said you were. You are a talent of the Citadel. You are trained for this activity.” Immune prepared tea for himself.

“I am.”

“You are also paying a debt for your education and upkeep for the last decade. This first mission has done much toward clearing your debt. Each person you saved was worth one week of your training.”

“Oh. So, six years’ worth.”

“Indeed, leaving you fourteen years of compensation.” Immune smiled.

“What?”

“Oh, you have to pay for your sister as well. The Citadel does not pay for family members. It is not a forgiven debt just because you now work for them.”

She glared at him as he sat across from him. “You are an ass.”

He smiled slightly, looking extremely charming. The pleased expression made her want to punch him.

She frowned. “How do you know so much about it?”

“I did research on you before I agreed to take you on as my partner. I was expecting something a little more brutal looking.”

Zez frowned. “Why?”

“You are a mass murderer. It is in your file. Eleven dead. The Sector Guard was nervous about taking you on missions. I was the only option to get you off Necridid.”

She swallowed and pushed the remains of her meal aside. “I can explain that.”

He laughed. “I am impressed that you don’t deny it. You were a child, and you managed to kill nearly a dozen grown men, in front of a Citadel Specialist, no less.”

“She was stuck with the others.”

“So, you killed men in cold blood.”

She pulled her self-control in and stared at him. “I killed men who deserved death. Those who prey on the helpless don’t have an entitlement to breathe the same air I do.”

“And you are the one who decides?”

“I did then, and if necessary, I will again.”

He nodded with a slight smile. “And that is why I am with you. I am here to keep you from activating that sense of justice.”

“You are my jailer.”

“I prefer the terms companion or partner.”

She crossed her arms. “I don’t.”

He shrugged. “Not my problem. I am assigned to you, and that is the end of the discussion.”

Zez got up and headed to the command deck. She pulled the data sheet into her lap and started reading. Arrival reports were coming in from the evacuees. Their ships were landing on their home worlds or the arranged safe worlds.

Immune sat in the pilot’s seat, and he commented, “We are still on course.”

“Yes.”

“I thought you would turn us around and head back to Necridid.”

She didn’t look up. “I have a sister. She is pregnant. She has a good man, and he will take care of her. I am also certain that if she needs any medical care, it will be billed to my account. If I purchase items for the baby, can I get them couriered to Necridid?”

“Of course. You are serious.”

“I am.”

“You accept your situation?”

“Despite what you think, I am a woman of honour. I killed those men because I thought they had raped my sister to death. I was a child, and my defenseless sister had been held for ransom, and when I tried to pay it, I found that she was bleeding to death.”

He turned to her, and she could feel his gaze watching her.

“If I had to do it again, I wouldn’t hesitate, but I wouldn’t kill them fast. I would cause wounds that would take them down and let them bleed to death in the most agonizing of manners. I took a class for that, too.”

“So, I should keep an eye on you.”

“If we are around rapists, yes.” She looked at him directly and met his calm gaze with her own.

He extended his hand. “I am Korlin of the Northern Mists. Nishan by origin.”

She placed her hand on his. “Zez of M’rora, born slave and now freewoman of Necridid.”

He closed his fingers over her hand, and to her surprise, he turned into coiling vapour that filled the interior of the shuttle.

“Okay. That is impressive.” She tried to lock him, and he tumbled back into his purple form. “And you weren’t kidding about being immune.”

He smiled. “I was not kidding.”

She cocked her head. “Even your uniform is you?”

“Yes. I compress my molecular density to form this body. It is the shape I am most comfortable in, though I can look like anyone.”

“Male or female?”

He chuckled. “Again, this is the form I prefer.”

“Well, where are we going next?”

Korlin inclined his head before turning and bringing up the display. “It is a matter of importance and will tax your skills. The Lecidia turtle is coming ashore, and the environmental protectors wish to incubate her eggs to help increase the chances of survival.”