WrappedInThought (2 page)

She needn’t have worried about anything. Her sisters had finished the preparations and her mother was standing by and viewing the results with a satisfied eye.

“It looks lovely, Mama. I don’t think they are here for high tea, though. Don’t be disappointed if they arrest me and leave.”

Her mother came and hugged her, her concern wrapping around Aliiva and holding as tight as she did.

When her mother released her, Aliiva removed the concern and let it go into the universe.

“Sorry, Ali. I didn’t mean to get that all over you.”

“Mama, you worry. I know. I worry that you worry and we will deal with whatever comes through our door.” She didn’t have a chance to say anything else, because a knock on the door announced the visitors.

An hour later, the cakes, sandwiches and snacks had been devoured. Polite conversation had been kept to the weather on Caneer as well as harvests.

The entire Egrar family was sitting across from the four visitors. With nothing but teacups and crumb-laden plates in front of them, the visitors sat back.

Recruiter Jathi of the Citadel smiled. “So, now that the pleasantries have been observed, I would like to ask Aliiva a question. Would you be willing to join the Citadel?”

Aliiva gasped. “I thought you were here to arrest me.”

Jathi smiled, her face crinkling with amusement. “No, we are not here to arrest you. Grero, here, has read the scene and confirmed what we knew. You got the information and managed to disarm the bomb before anyone was injured. That is the kind of instinct that we enjoy fostering. We also have never seen anything like your talent and if you allow us to assist you, you could develop it into something even more extraordinary.”

Aliiva smiled. “My family needs me here.”

Draolin Egrar looked at her and shook his head. “Ali, here, you will only be able to live the farm life and work with your family. With the Citadel, you can make a difference in the lives of folk that we cannot imagine. We can make do without you here. I can hire a hand and a bookkeeper if need be. You have to live you own life.”

Viinya grinned with the expression that only a sister could manage. “And report back on your activities. We can live vicariously through you.”

Aliiva blinked and looked at her family. They were all nodding and gesturing for her to say yes.

“Can I come home for visits?” She knew she sounded like a banished child, but she wanted confirmation from all parties that she wasn’t banned from her home.

Jathi grinned. “Of course. We can put it in your agreement that the Citadel will provide you with ten days out of four hundred back here on your home world. Is that acceptable?”

Looking at her encouraging family, she shrugged. “Yes? When would I have to leave?”

Jathi smiled. “I leave in two days. You can take that time to be with your family and to prepare. I will return here in two days with the agreement.”

“If the Citadel is a research and training group, why do I have to sign an agreement?”

The older woman to the left of Jathi with the dark rainbow hair and matching eyes smiled. “If you go on any assignments for the Sector Guard or Citadel, you get hazard pay. If you become an instructor, you receive a stipend in addition to your clothing, food and shelter.”

“So, I would get paid for doing what comes naturally?”

The older woman smiled. “Yes. That is the idea.”

Nervousness began to shift and a sense of anticipation ran through her. “I will be ready. What time will you want to leave?”

With the details rapidly hashed out, her family gathered around her as the visitors left.

She was wrapped in a group hug that left a band of warmth around her heart. Aliiva took the emotions, the thoughts and even the fears and did something she rarely did. She saved the collection in a tiny band and pressed it behind her left ear.

No matter where she went in the future, she would keep it with her and her family’s support would only be the tiniest of touches away.

Chapter Three

She cried for the first two days. Aliiva had never been away from home before, let alone off planet. When she finished snivelling, her training began.

A quiet acolyte in white collected her from her rooms and led her to the place where her first class was to begin.

The woman with the rainbow hair was waiting for her when she entered the training room. Instead of a war room or a gym, the older woman sat in front of a tea set with a wardrobe of clothing behind her.

The woman remained seated and inclined her head in welcome. “Welcome, Aliiva Egrar. Please have a seat.”

Aliiva dropped herself into the chair and the woman wrapped her knuckles on the table. “Stand up and try again. Use grace this time. Stand next to the chair and lean down while keeping your back straight, bend your knees to get you where you want to go.”

Aliiva blinked. “What kind of training is this?’

The woman grinned. “Deportment, etiquette and manners. With your skills, you are going to be a powerful talent and you will do your best work in threat detection. That means mingling in the highest circles and that means you need to learn traditions and rituals associated with polite behaviour. I am the one to teach you.”

Aliiva stood and gracefully descended into the chair. “May I ask your name?”

“Equilar Deeha, of the Moreski imperial family. My granddaughter and her husband are in the Sector Guard. Is that enough credentials for you?”

Aliiva smiled. “I was not questioning your qualifications, merely your name. I am still getting used to being away from everything I know. Names are my only anchor to those around me.”

Equilar’s face went from aloof to concerned in a moment. “Of course. I am sorry, they told me that your species doesn’t leave often, but I hadn’t realized how disconnected you would feel. That is actually a good thing.”

Ali quirked her lips. “How so?”

“You can keep your family in your thoughts but see each society through new eyes. Folk who grow up in a more travelled area often gain prejudices and stereotypes from those around them. You get to start clean with an open mind.”

“Is that really an asset?”

“Innocence can always be an asset.” Equilar smiled. “If your training progresses, you will travel to hot spots with another investigator and determine the truth of the situations.”

She was confused. “I thought that the Citadel had personnel for that sort of thing. I am not an interrogator.”

Equilar stood and put her hand on Ali’s shoulder. “You do not have to be. You will simply learn and report.”

As the woman removed her hand, Ali brushed her fingers over that spot. She heard Equilar’s thoughts in her mind and blushed at both the compliments and the insult.

“Thank you for liking the arrangement of my hair and I am sure that even an uneducated twit from Caneer can manage to learn how to use utensils on this table.” She smiled politely.

Equilar blushed. “You got all of that from the brief contact?”

“Yes.”

The woman straightened and smiled. “Then we had better get started so that you can prove my first impression incorrect.”

“Your impression is your own. I will learn because that is what I am here for.” Ali met the woman’s eyes with calm determination.

Equilar sat across from her with a boneless grace. “In that case, get your elbows off the table and let’s begin.”

Three hours of gruelling etiquette later and Aliiva was confident that she would run screaming from any table hosting more than six pieces of silverware. An apprentice came to collect her for her afternoon’s training and he bowed apologetically when she asked about lunch. “In the future, Madame will feed you. Today you will have to face your combat training on an empty stomach.”

Aliiva was distracted by hunger before she asked, “Combat training?”

“It is what the recruiter decided would benefit you most. Recruiter Jathi is very good at that sort of thing.”

Ali smiled. “Will you always be shuttling me around like this?”

“This is a service given to new recruits on their first week. Since this is our first year on Morganti, we have options to work with the Sector Guard during training.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“It can be, but most of them can kick your ass without effort, even the girls.”

He sounded a little disgruntled about that last comment of his.

She laughed. Tons of farm boys had the same problem. When a girl had a talent for lifting or riding a harvester, they tended to freak out a little.

She held any further questions until she entered the huge room and her escort disappeared. “Hello?”

Her voice echoed through the huge, empty warehouse.

A masculine voice rumbled over her and she turned to face the Kozue warrior who was glaring at her. “So, you are the new arrival.”

“I am. What are you going to try and teach me?”

He went to the rack on the wall and removed one of the guns, “Fire this at the target at the end of the warehouse and we will see what you need to learn.”

She hefted the gun and took aim at the far end of the warehouse. Without thinking about it, she adjusted her vision, focussed and fired. When she finished with the weapon, a snowflake had been crafted on the far-off target.

“You have fired this kind of rifle before.”

“Projectile rifles? Yes. We use them to hunt vermin and predators on the farm. I don’t have experience in energy weapons or anything of that nature.”

He nodded and made notes on a data pad. “Fine, we will test you on the blasters next.”

When she held the blaster backward, he touched her and adjusted her grip so that the business end was pointing at the target.

The tiny contact left a trace on her skin and when she missed the target and he had to adjust her stance, another trace was left. After she finished missing the target, she put the blaster down and confronted her instructor.

Her fingers read the traces and she stiffened with frustration. “Sir, I am not a whore, I am not useless and I am not trying to seduce you.”

He froze. “What?”

“You are thinking that I have the looks of a prostitute and have been sent here to tempt you out of your Kozue sensibilities.”

He blinked. “I am impervious to mental invasion.”

She snorted. “I didn’t invade your mind. You left your traces on me with every contact.”

He backed away and muttered to himself before using the com unit on the wall.

“Remain here. An apprentice will be here to escort you to your next appointment.”

Aliiva opened her mouth, but he was already gone.

She looked over the precisely labelled weapons and twitched her lips as she read all of them. Kozue were usually a little twitchy about psychic talents, but she had never met one who reacted this violently to the very idea of being read.

“What did you do to Kannor?” The same apprentice appeared at her side.

“I merely told him what he was thinking. It frightened him.” She shrugged.

The apprentice burst into laughter. “You told Kannor what he was thinking? No wonder he ran for it.” The apprentice gestured for her to come with him.

“Why would my talent freak him out?” She walked through the quiet halls with her companion.

“Kannor’s biggest strength is that his mind is impenetrable. I am sure that there will be several folks who will want to learn your trick.”

She winced as understanding ran through her. Kozue were sensitive for such a war-mongering species. She rubbed at her forehead. “So, I am his worst nightmare?”

The apprentice chuckled. “More or less. The facility coordinator wishes to speak with you before you continue your instruction here. Are you willing to have the meeting now?”

Aliiva sighed, rubbed her arms and quickly touched the spot behind her left ear where her family’s love resided. “Yes. I can have the meeting now. I am obviously not doing anything else with my time.”

“It isn’t a great attitude, but I will take it.”

It wasn’t the most auspicious start to her first training day, but it did make for a break from mourning her home.

Chapter Four

Baengar Lekkal was exhausted. Two weeks working with Sector Guard extraction teams had worked on his nerves and his body with equal measure.

As he walked up the pathway to the Morganti Citadel, Apprentice Kalo came to him and took his bags.

“What is it, Kalo?”

“Turnari needs to speak with you about a new recruit.”

The exaggerated calm of Kalo’s tone was not lost on Baengar. “What is up, Kalo?”

The younger man grinned. “You have got to hear it to believe it.”

His curiosity overrode his exhaustion. “Turnari had better be more forthcoming than you are.”

Kalo chuckled. “I will drop your bags in your rooms. Shall I dump them for a cleaning cycle?”

Baengar gave him a dark look and the younger man moved down one of the corridors. Stomping down the halls, he reached the coordinator’s office and knocked on the door.

“Come in, Baengar.”

Turnari raised his head and rubbed at his forehead, his horns gleaming in the light of his lamps.

“What is up, Turnari?”

“We have a situation. Have a seat. The tea is fresh.”

Baengar took a seat at the table set with two places and poured himself a cup of tea and a glass of water. Munching on a sandwich, he waited for the facility manager to finish his notes. Turnari got to his feet and joined Baengar at the table, his frame taxing the small chair.

“Now, Baengar, let me preface this by saying that I know you have sworn off taking personal apprentices, but we have a situation.”

He sipped at his tea and waited for the Dhemon to continue.

“We have a recruit and she has a peculiar and amazing talent. She needs hand-to-hand and weapons training.”

Baengar sipped at his tea and leaned forward. “How long has she been here?”

“Ten days.”

“And you haven’t started her training?” That was a bit of a surprise. Normally, an asset would begin immediately training to master their talents and whatever skills they needed to go with it.

Turnari rubbed his forehead again. “I didn’t say that. She has gone through three instructors. They all refused to work with her again.”